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WALLER'S 
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HISTORY 

OP 

ILLINOIS 



ELBERT WALLER 

5> TAMAROA, ILLINOIS <£ 




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Class 
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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Many free countries have lost their 
liberty, and ours may lose hers; but if she 
shall, be it my proudest plume, not that I 
was the last to desert, but that I never 
deserted her. 




TO the sacred memory of 
the brave pioneers who 
made this Great State possible, 
this little book is affectionately 
dedicated by the author. 



WALLER'S 
BRIEF 

HISTORY 

OF 

ILLINOIS 



BY 

ELBERT WALLER, Ph. B. 
ii 

TAMAROA, ILLINOIS 



1910 

THIRD EDITION 

PRICE 40 CENTS 



WAGONER PRINTING COMPANY 
GALESBURG, ILLINO IS 



%f^ 



, Trtr* \ 



COPYRIGHT 191^ BY 
ELBERT WALLER 



£CI.A280276 



PREFACE 



Illinois has contributed so largely to American 
history that we cannot fully comprehend the story of 
our beloved country unless we know something of the 
trials and triumphs of the people who have given to 
Illinois its prominence in national affairs. 

The author attempts here to present the import- 
ant facts in Illinois history in chronological order and 
in brief and tangible shape without making any at- 
tempt at rhetorical display. 

Grateful acknowledgements are du? to Ex-County 
Superintendent Mrs. Emma M. Bryan, of Murphys- 
boro, County Superintendent O. J. Kern, of Rockford, 
County Superintendent Maurice A. Mudd, of Ches- 
ter, County Superintendent C. L. Gregory, of Aledo, 
County Superintendent C. F. Easterday, of Vandalia. 
Dr. J. T. Marlow, of Tamaroa, Editor H. L. Farmer, 
of Tamaroa, Hon. Henry Clay, of Tamaroa, and Mrs. 
Jessie Palmer Webber, Sec'y 111. Hist. Society, Spring- 
field, all of whom have made prompt and gen- 
erous responses to inquiries ; also to Prof. C. E. Hef- 
lin, of Viola, and Miss Edna Stallings, of Viola, each 
of whom has given valuable assistance in preparing 
the illustrations. 

Whether this little volume will endure the keen 
and relentless critical spirit characteristic of this age. 
remains to be seen, yet it is certain that we are justi- 
fied in being proud that our state history is such as 
to allow us to record the facts herein contained. 

The Author. 



WE ARE ININI" 



While on his journey down the Mississippi, Mar- 
quette discovered human footprints near the mouth 
of the Des Moines and by tracing them a distance of 
five or six miles he reached an Indian village. He 
called out in the Algonquin tongue, ''Who are you?" 
and received the reply, "We are Inini" This was in- 
terpreted to mean real men as distinguished from the 
Iroquois, whom they hated for their crueity. From 
Inini it changed to Jllini; the adjective ending, ese or 
ois, was added and it became Illincse and finally 
Illinois. From that time on, Illinois was a general 
term applied to all the Indians of this region. 




Cahokia Mound near East St. Louis— the Largest Pyramid in the 

World— 102 feet high, 780 feet wide and 1080 feet long. 

Erected by hand, probably as early as 500 B. C. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE ABORIGINES. 

1. Who were the first men on Illinois soil and 
whence came they? These are questions that are as 
puzzling as the Sphinx's Riddle and questions that 
wiil never be answered. They have left us their 
graves and their mounds, their only history. Whether 
these mounds were for the worship of a Supreme 
Being or whether they were for defense, we know 
not. As a race, whither did they go? Was each race 
exterminated by a succeeding one or were they all 
the ancestors of the Indians? These questions are 
likewise unanswerable. They gave us their country, 
but its history vanished with those who made it. All 
we know is that the Indians were here when the 
white man came. Of those who were here we shall 
try to tell you. 

2. Since the Indians were more or less nomadic 
it is hard to classify them and to tell just what lands 



10 ILLINOIS 

each tribe occupied. Early explorers arrange those 
east of the Mississippi into three great groups; the 
Muscogees, living in the south ; the Iroquois or Five 
Nations (rather eight nations), inhabiting the coun- 
try from New York to the St. Lawrence and west- 
ward to the Great Lakes; the Algonquins, the most 
powerful of them all, occupying practically all the 
remaining territory. 

3. When LaSalle came he found the Indians, lat- 
er known as the Illini Federation, occupying most of 
the region drained by the Illinois river and its trib- 
utaries. This federation may be said to have been 
composed of the following: the Kaskaskias, the Ca- 
hokias, the Peorias, the Tamaroas, and the Mitchi- 
gamies. 

4. Next is the wise and daring Miami Federa- 
tion. It was composed of the Miamis, the Eel-Riv- 
ers, the Weas, and the Piankeshaws. They occupied 
a broad expanse of territory to the eastward. 

5. Other tribes not in federations were : the Win- 
nebagoes, the Kickapoos, the Pottawatomies, the 
Sacs and Foxes who settled together on Rock River, 
and the Shawnees who were not Algonquins but 
who came from Georgia and settled in the Ohio Val- 
ley.* Of the Winnebago tribe, Blanchard in his His- 
tory of the Northwest, says : "The Winnebagoes 

* A Piankeshaw tradition says that they themselves al- 
ways lived here and that the Shawneese just came up out of 
the ground. 



ILLINOIS 11 

were of the Sioux stock and may be set down as the 
most heroic of all, they never having been con- 
quered on the field of battle, either by other tribes or 
even by the armies of the United States, as the fate 
of Custer's army in 1879 gives melancholy experi- 
ence." 

6. Wars among these tribes were common, each 
struggling for the best hunting ground. The most 
noted will, alone, require our attention. The Winne- 
bagoes from the west, the Sacs, the Foxes and the 
Kickapoos from the north and the fierce Iroquois from 
the far east, made such inroads on the Illini that they 
became weak and discouraged. The Tamaroas were 
followed to the Mississippi and after hundreds of the 
"braves" were killed, 700 women and children were 
carried away as slaves. 

7. In 1679 LaSalle built Fort Creve Cour on 
Peoria Lake, but while he was on an expedition 
down the Illinois and the Mississippi rivers the fort 
was destroyed. Not to be dismayed, he, in 1682, built 
Fort St. Louis on what is now known as Starved Rock. 
The Illini, with a rallying of their old courage, came 
to him and built up prosperous villages around him. 

8. In 1700 the Kaskaskias left Old Kaskaskia 
(where Utica now stands) and founded a New Kas- 
kaskia, near the mouth of the river then given that 
name, (now called Okaw.) The Cahokias and the 
Tamaroas made a settlement at Tamaroa, later known 
as Cahokia, in what has long been known as the 



12 ILLINOIS 

"American Bottom, v south of the city of East St. 
Louis. The Peorias went to the lake which now bears 
their name. Fear of the Iroquois seems to have been 
the principal reason for moving and now. when they 
were at peace, many of them concluded to go back to 
their old hunting ground. Then other old but unex- 
pected enemies appeared on the scene. 




Starved Rock. 



9. In 1769 a Peoria Indian, being bribed for a 
barrel of rum, killed Pontiac, an Ottawa chief, at Ca- 
hokia. This brought on a war from the tribes that 
had so long been loyal to him. The Iroquois had 
troubles at home and never joined in, but the Sacs 
and Foxes, the Pottawatomies, and the Kickapoos 
"never forgot" and in that same year, the last of that 
noble Federation, took refuse on the site of old 



ILLINOIS 13 

Fort St. Louis and there perished of thirst and hun- 
ger. From this tragic incident, Starved Rock gets its 
name. 

10. The maps on the two succeeding pages will 
show you about where they were when the white men 
found them and where they were when their lands 
came under the control of the United States of Amer- 
ica. 

11. Their further history is uneventful except as 
they appear in the War of 1812 and in the Black 
Hawk War. 

"No more for them the wild deer bounds, 
The plow is on their hunting ground ; 
The pale man's axe rings through their woods, 
The pale man's sail skims o'er their floods." 




LOQMTJOff 

OF 
I/JDIRNS 

/68Z 




LOCATION 



iriDlAN5 
i '782. 




Marquette's First Glimpse of Illinois. 



CHAPTER II. 

EXPLORATION,, CONQUEST AND SETTLEMENT, 

1673-1818. 

12. Father Marquette, a Jesuit priest and Louis 
Joliet, a French fur trader, were the first white men 
to set foot on Illinois soil. In 1673 they crossed what 
is now Wisconsin, westward to the Mississippi River. 
They sailed down that river and finally up the Illinois. 
Crossing overland from the headwaters of the latter, 
they returned by Lake Michigan to the mission at 
Green Bay, whence they started. Joliet returned to 
France and was given the island of Anticosti. Mar- 
quette returned to the Ulini country, preached to the 



ILLINOIS 



17 



Indians and established a mission — the first church in 
Illinois. He soon became afflicted with that dread 
disease, consumption, and started to return to Can- 
ada. On the south shore of Lake Michigan he died 
and was there buried. Later the Indians took up his re- 
mains and, with great reverence, took them to the 
mission at St. Ignace. Joliet had command of the 
expedition and Marquette went along as a subordin- 
ate. Public opinion honors Marquette the more and 
why not justly so? He wanted nothing for his ser- 
vices. He was a man of God "whose saintly char- 
acter will long remain an inspiration to men of every 
creed and calling." "Greater love hath no man than 
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." 




Robert Cavalier de LaSalle. 



13. The French now resolved to take possession 
of the Illini Country and sent Robert Cavalier de La- 



18 ILLINOIS 

Salle and Henry Tonti (an Itaiian) to build a line of 
forts. In 16 79 they went to the south end of Peoria 
Lake, where they built Fort Creve Cour, the oldest 
fortress in the state. An enemy of LaSalle's told the 
Indians that LaSalle was an Iroquois spy and caused 
them to be unfriendly to his party. They sailed down 
to the Gulf of Mexico, claimed all the country for 
France- and returning, built Fort St. Louis on Starved 
Rock, organized the Illini tribes and other tribes into 
another federation (see 3) in 1682. "From this fort- 
ress, inaccessible as an eagle's nest, LaSalle looked, 
down upon the homes of more than twenty thousand 
Indians." Leaving Tonti, he went to France and tried 
to return by way of the Gulf of Mexico, but he could 
not find the mouth of the Mississippi. He was fin- 
ally assassinated by one of his own men. Thus died 
in the prime of his manhood, Robert Cavalier de La- 
Salle, "without doubt one of the most remarkable 
explorers whose names live in history." "Never, 
under the imperishable mail of paladin or crusader, 
beat a heart of more intrepid mettle." Father Henne- 
pin was with LaSalle and was sent to explore the 
upper Mississippi. He got as far as the Falls of St. 
Anthony, was captured by the Indians, escaped, re- 
turned to France and wrote what is thought to be a 
true account of his expedition. After LaSalle's death, 
Hennepin wrote a different story, retracting his form- 
er one and claiming to have been the first to explore 
the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. The latter 
story is an impossible one as his dates are badly mixed. 



ILLINOIS 19 

14. Other Frenchmen came over bringing their 
families. The Kaskaskias decided to abandon their 
old village and, in 1700, they formed at the mouth of 
the Kaskaskia River what has since been known as 
Kaskaskia. Here with them some of the French 
formed a settlement. Some of the white people also 
went to the Tamaroa (now Cahokia) settlement. It 
is thus evident that the first two white settlements in 
Illinois, Tamaroa and Kaskaskia, were simultaneous 
— 1700. Since they were going down the river it is 
quite probable that the Tamaroa settlement was a day 
or two the earlier. 

15. In the year 1718 Louis XIV, King of 
France, appointed Pierre Duque Boisbraint as Mili- 
tary Commandant in the Illinois Country. About 18 
miles up the Mississippi from Kaskaskia he built a 
fortress and called it Fort Chartres. The stone of 
which it was built was brought from the bluffs to the 
east. It was not completed for about thirty years, 
but it cost a miliion dollars and practically bank- 
rupted the government of France. It was the greatest 
structure of its kind on the Western Continent, but it 
never fired a hostile shot. 

16. In the year 1719, just a hundred years after 
slavery was introduced into Virginia, Philip Renault 
bought five hundred slaves in San Domingo and 
brought them to Kaskaskia and Fort Chartres ex- 
pecting to use them in mining precious metals, of 
which the bluffs were supposed to be full. After this 
hallucination disappeared the slaves were sold to the 



20 ILLINOIS 

planters. These slaves were the forefathers of the 
slave population of Illinois. 

17. When the brave General Wolfe and his men 
defeated the French at Quebec, the fate of the future 
Illinois was practically decided, for it led to the sign- 
ing of the Treaty of Paris September 3d, 1763, which 
provided that France give all her territory east of the 
Mississippi to the English. The English proceeded 
with caution to occupy their new territory and it was 
October 10th, 1765, when Capt. Sterling, with his 42d 
Highlanders, took possession of Fort Chartres, which 
we have said before was the seat of French govern- 
ment in Illinois. On the above date the Lilies of 
France came down from the flagstaff and the Union 
Jack, (the flag of Great Britain adopted in 1707) 
went up in its place. The people were guaranteed 
religious freedom and all the rights of British sub- 
jects if they would take the oath of allegiance to the 
King of England and if they chose to remain French 
subjects they were at liberty to go to French terri- 
tory, taking along all their goods and chattels. Pos- 
sibly as many as two-thirds of them went to St. Louis, 
not knowing that region had been secretly ceded to 
Spain. 

18. On the 24th day of October, 1765, George III 
issued a proclamation which forbade any of his "lov- 
ing subjects" to acquire title to any of this territory 
wrested from the French. That he intended to di- 
vide the whole country west of the Alleghenies into 
baronial estates and thus establish a government sim- 



ILLINOIS 



21 



ilar to the old Feudal System in a vast inland empire, 
cannot be doubted. 

19. Hitherto the peopie had been content to al- 
low the Priest to act as judge and jury in disputed 
cases but the English wanted something different 
and the jury system was adopted. The first court in 
Illinois was convened at Fort Chartres December 9th, 
1768. 




Powder Magazine -the last relic of old Fort Chartres. 

20. In 1772 the Mississippi overflowed its banks 
and swept away a part of Fort Chartres. The British 
had now an enemy that no bravery could daunt, so 
thev built a fort near Kaskaskia and called it Fort 



22 ILLINOIS 

Gage, in honor of General Gage who had command 
of the British troops in Boston. 

21. In the year 1774, the British Parliament 
passed what was known as the "Quebec Act," which 
annexed all the territory north of the Ohio to Canada. 
By virtue of their original charters, Virginia, Massa- 
chusetts and Connecticut claimed this territory. As, 
might be expected, the people of these colonies did 
not like this high-handed way of doing business and 
resented it in words that forebode revolution. The 
sequel to this resistance to British tyranny may be at- 
tributed greatly to the character of the people and to 
their manner of living. The soil was fertile and it 
yielded abundantly to those who tilled it. Like-wise 
the forest furnished plenty of game for the hunter. 
So bountiful was the supply from field and forest 
that many of the people were employed in taking flat- 
boats filled with produce down to New Orleans. While 
most of them were of a reverential turn of mind, yet 
they were a "happy-go-lucky" sort of people and life 
passed merrily among them. Frolics were common 
and the Reverend Father was often the leading figure 
among them. 

22. On July 13th, 1775, the Continental Con- 
gress which was then in session at Philadelphia, es- 
tablished three Indian departments, viz: the Northern, 
the Middle and the Southern. The Illinois Country 
belonged to the Middle. This law never amounted to 
anything but it is worthy of mention because it was 
the first legislation in America concerning Illinois. 



ILLINOIS 23 

23. George Rogers Clark conceived the bold 
project of taking the Illinois Country from the British. 
This pleased Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia, 
who on January 2d, 1778, commissioned him Lieu- 
tenant Colonel, gave him orders to organize seven 
companies of fifty men each and to proceed to take 
the British post of Kaskaskia. The real object of 
raising these companies was kept a secret and, in or- 
der to delude British sympathizers, a public order was 
given to proceed to Kentucky and protect the settlers 
against the Indians. 

24. Colonel Clark, with three companies, went 
down the Ohio from Fort Pitt to Corn Island. Here 
he was joined by about a hundred Kentuckians. For 
the first time he made known the real object of the 
campaign. About a hundred men deserted, leaving 
him about the same number as before but undoubtedly 
of better mettle. 

25. While going down the river he was over- 
taken by Captain Linn who bore a message that 
France and America had formed an alliance. Smith's 
History of Illinois says this was Providential. It 
might be said to have been Providential also that a 
party of hunters who knew the trails fell in with 
them. 

26. Believing the Mississippi to be fortified. 
Colonel Clark chose to go overland to Kaskaskia, and 
landed about a mile above Fort Massac. On the 29th 
of June he started across the country. On the third 



24 ILLINOIS 

day they got lost in what is now Williamson County. 
Suspecting the guide (one of the hunters), they 
threatened to kill him, but he found a trail and they 
reached the bluffs overlooking Kaskaskia on the sixth 
day, July 4th, 1778. 

27. The attack was well planned. His little army 
was divided into three divisions and under the cover 
of darkness, the left one was to cross the Kaskaskia 
River below the town ; the right was to cross above ; 
both to await orders from Clark who led the center 
into town. A big "frolic," for which Kaskaskia was 
famous, was in progress and all were there, even the 
garrison. Leaving his men outside, Clark boldly 
walked in and stood, an interested spectator. An 
Indian brave discovered him and gave a war-whoop 
All was excitement but Clark tried to quiet them 
bidding them to go on with the dance, adding that he 
had "jest drapped in" to tell them that they wer 
dancing under the flag of Virginia instead of the flag 
of Great Britain. They were all ordered to give up 
their arms, to go to their homes and not to attempt to 
leave under penalty of death. The word was given 
to all the soldiers who immediately took possession o: 
the town. The Union Jack came down and the Stars 
and Stripes went up. (See Clark's Memoirs). The 
little army whose bravery had won this bloodless bat- 
tle, paraded the streets all night, yelling like savages. 
Nobody slept. 

28. The next day "with fear and tremb! : ng," a 



ILLINOIS 25 

number of the old men, led by Father Gibauit, begged 
for mercy for their peopie. Never did a bright man- 
hood shine more brightly through a rough exterior 
than when Clark answered, "Do you take us for sav- 
ages?'' and explained to them that their French breth- 
ren were in alliance with the Americans and that Eng- 
land was a common enemy. They all took the oath of 
allegiance to the United States of America. Cahokia 
and all the adjacent community promptly yielded and 
Young. America became firmly established on Illinois 
soil. 

29. In the autumn of this year, Captain Helm, 
with a small force, not enough for a corporal's guard, 
went over to "Vincennes on the Wabash," persuaded 
the people to place themselves under American rule, 
and Captain Helm became Commandant. 

30. On the 15th of the following December, Sir 
Henry Hamilton (the hair-buyer), with eighty red- 
coats and four hundred Indian braves, advanced upon 
the fort at Vincennes and demanded its surrender. 
Captain Helm demanded the honors of war. His 
terms were granted, and the "entire garrison, consist- 
ing of one officer and one man, walked out with colors 
flying." 

31. "I must now take Hamilton or he will take 
me," said Colonel Clark. Accordingly, on February 
10th, 1779, he started a keel boat down the Mississippi 
with forty-six men and some supplies, to co-operate 
with him in command of his old soldiers and a com- 



26 



ILLINOIS 



pany of Frenchmen, one hundred seventy in all, march- 
ing overland to Vincennes. In a brief work we can- 
not enumerate the hardships experienced on this expe- 
dition. Crossing the drowned lands of the Wabash 
would discourage anyone but men of mettle. By 
wading, swimming and rafting, they got through, the 
stronger helping the weaker, and on February 22d 
they saw Vincennes. 




Clark Crossing: the Drowned Lands of the Wabash. 

(From Anderson's Grammar School History, published by Chas. E. 
Merrill Co., Chicago and New York.) 

32. The next day Colonel Clark sent in the fol- 
lowing note: 

To the Inhabitants of Vincennes: 

Being now within two miles of your village with my 
army, determined to take your fort this night, and not being 



ILLINOIS 27 

willing to surprise you, I take this opportunity to request such 
of you as are true citizens and willing to enjoy the liberty 
which I bring you, to remain still in your houses and 
those, if any there be, who are friends of the King, let them 
instantly repair to the fort and join the hair-buyer general 
and fight like men. If any of the latter do not go to the fort 
and shall be discovered afterwards, they may depend upon 
severe punishment. On the contrary, those who are true 
friends to liberty, may depend upon being well treated and I 
once more request them to keep out of the streets, for every 
one I find in arms on my arrival shall be treated as an 
enemy. Respectfully yours, George Rogers Clark. 

33. As indicated, fire was opened on the fort that 
night. The fire was returned. This continued all 
night and practically all the next day. Late in the af- 
ternoon Hamilton signed articles of capitulation and 
the fort was formally delivered February 25th, 1779. 
Colonel Clark's army, two hundred sixteen men, had 
taken from Great Britain territory enough for an 
empire. 

34. Shall we follow this great man's career 
further? We fain would do so but a few words must 
suffice. It often happens that those whom God means 
shall do good works are to be wrongly treated by the 
very ones whom they are to benefit. This case was no 
exception. Personally he was never paid anything 
nor was he in any way rewarded. He suffered many 
years with rheumatism contracted in his country's 
service, and died neglected and in poverty, the same 
year that the Illinois Country which he had gained 
for America became a state — 1818. 

35. In 1778, the Legislature of Virginia created 
the office of Lieutenant-commandant of the Illinois 



28 ILLINOIS 

Country and Governor Henry appointed John Todd : 
of Kentucky, to fill the place. Todd arrived at Kas- 
kaskia the next year and issued a proclamation organ- 
izing Illinois County. He appointed a Magistrate at 
Kaskaskia, one at Cahokia, and another at Prairie du 
Rocher, to hold court at their respective places. He 
also appointed a Captain of the Militia at each place to 
assist the Magistrate in carrying out the laws. Among 
the early settlers superstition held sway and many still 
believed in witchcraft. One negro at Kaskaskia and 
one at Cahokia were sentenced to be burned at the 
stake and their ashes scattered. Mr. Todd signed 
their death-warrant in 1779, and they were duly exe- 
cuted. Doubtless there were others but these are the 
only ones of which we have any reliable record. Mr. 
Todd went to Kentucky in 1780 and was killed in a 
fight with the Indians. For the next ten years, Illinois 
was practically without any government. (See 41.) 

36. France (not individual Frenchmen like La- 
fayette) had agreed to help the United States in the 
Revolution more on account of her enmity to Eng- 
land than her good feeling for America, and when the 
negotiations which led to a treaty of peace between 
the United States and Great Britain were in progress, 
it was plain that the French representative was warm- 
ly supporting the claim of Spain to all territory west 
of the Alleghenies. England, dreading the combined 
power of France and Spain, did not prolong the con- 
troversy and the treaty of peace was signed Septem- 
ber 3d, 1783. This relinquished all of England's claim 



ILLINOIS 29 

to territory east of the Mississippi River and con- 
firmed the title of the United States. 

37. This same year, 1783, Samuel J. Seeley taught 
the first school in Illinois. It was at New Design in 
what is now Monroe County. 

38. After the close of the Revolution some of the 
men who had been with Clark emigrated to the west 
and settled in the Mississippi bottom above Kaskaskia. 
From them it got the name "American Bottom," which 
name it has ever since retained. 

39. The states of New York, Virginia, Massa- 
chusetts and Connecticut claimed the territory north 
of the Ohio River. The first had but little ground 
for its claim and gave it up in 1784. Virginia mag- 
nanimously ceded her claim in 1784, with the under- 
standing that the lands be sold to pay the war debts 
of the states. Massachusetts followed the same yeai 
and Connecticut ceded her claim in 1786. 

40. On July 13th, 1787, Congress passed a meas- 
ure proposed by Thomas Jefferson. It was a code of 
laws for the government of the Northwest Territory : 
and was known as the Ordinance of 1787. Some of 
the principal provisions were: that Congress should 
appoint a governor, a secretary and three judges to 
administer the laws; that religious freedom should be 
guaranteed ; that within its borders neither slavery nor 
involuntary servitude except as a punishment for 
crime should ever exist in any of the territory ; that it 
should eventually be divided into not less than three 



30 ILLINOIS 

states and never into more than five states, each of 
which could be admitted into the Union when it had 
sixty thousand free inhabitants. Nearly fifty years 
afterwards Daniel Webster said, "We are accustomed 
to praise the great law-givers of antiquity, we help tc 
perpetuate the fame of Solon and of Lycurgus but I 
doubt whether one single law, ancient or modern, has 
produced effects more distinct, marked and lasting in 
character than the Ordinance of 1787." 

41. It may be said to have been three years after 
the adoption of the Ordinance of 1787 before Illinois 
had any government at all. On October 5th, 1787 : 
General Arthur St. Clair was appointed Governor of 
the Northwest Territory. He spent some time in the 
present limits of Ohio and Indiana and reached Kas- 
kaskia in 1790. On April 27th of the same year, he 
organized St. Clair County with Cahokia as the 
county seat, the first in the present state of Illinois. 
It included all the Illinois country south of the Illinois 
River and west of a line drawn from the mouth of 
Mackinaw Creek near the present city of Pekin, to 
Fort Massac near the present city of Metropolis. 

42. Rev. Joseph Lillard founded the first Metho- 
dist church in Illinois in 1793. It was at Shiloh in the 
New Design settlement. 

43. Randolph County was organized October 
5th, 1795. It included part of St. Clair County, being 
all of the Illinois Country south of a line drawn due 
east from the Mississippi, through the New Design 



ILLINOIS 



31 



settlement to the Wabash River. This division was 
made as a result of a misunderstanding between two of 
the officers. One was to be judge in Randolph County, 
the other in St. Clair. 

44. The first Baptist Church in Illinois was or- 
ganized by Rev. David Badgley, at New Design, in 
1796. 

45. By act of Congress, May 7th, 1800, Ohio was 
cut out of the Northwest Territory and the remainder 
was called Indiana Territory. It was to be a territory 
of the first class, in which all the officers were appoint- 
ed by the Governor. This law went into effect July 
4th, 1800. "Saint Vincennes" (Vincennes) became 
the capital and General William H. Harrison was ap- 
pointed governor. 




Old Fort Dearborn— The Beginning of Chicago. 



32 ILLINOIS 

46. Almost immediately after the close of the Rev- 
olution, British subjects began to plan to annex the 
territory, north and west of the Ohio, to Quebec, and 
did all they could to create a hostile feeling between 
the Indians and American citizens. Accordingly, the 
United States Government thought it best to build a 
fort in this region. A spot on the eastern shore of 
Lake Michigan was selected at first, but the Chipewas 
and the Ottawas objected. The next place chosen was 
at the mouth of the "Chicagou River." Here Fort 
Dearborn was built in 1804. It was named in honor 
of General Henry Dearborn, who was then Secretary 
of War. (See 51, 52, 96.) 

47. Tradition says that Fort Massac was built by 
Ferdinand DeSoto, the Spanish explorer, in 1542* 
Whether this is true, we know not, but it is a fact that 
the French occupied it as early as 1701. "Here Wilk- 
inson, Sebastian, Powers and others, with Spanish. 
French and Creole women plotted to dismember the 
American Union. Here the gifted Aaron Burr rested 
refreshed himself and planned his southern expedi- 
tion ; his plot to make an empire out of the southwest 
and if events favored, to set himself on the throne of 
the Montezumas," (111. Hist. Library, Vol. 8.) 

48. The first Masonic lodge in Illinois was organ- 
ized at Kaskaskia, September 13th, 1806, by seven 
pioneers who were bound by the mystic tie. The name 
of this lodge was Western Star. 

49. On February 3d, 1809, the State of Indiana 



ILLINOIS 



53 



was cut out of the Indiana Territory and the re- 
mainder was called Illinois Territory. Kaskaskia was 
the capital. An old atlas gives the following picture of 
the first capitol. 




m 


! i 



-TO 




Capitol of Illinois Territory. 



50. Illinois Territory was changed to the second 
class on May 21st, 1812. This gave them the right 
to elect all town and county officers. The same year 
Gallatin, Johnson and Madison counties were organ- 
ized. Ali these had a tendency to encourage immi- 
gration and the country rapidly filled up. 

51. Prior to the war of 1812, British agents had 
been among the Indians of the Illinois Country and 
poisoned their minds against the Americans. With 
the declaration of war against England, the Indians 
began. The Americans had not been asleep but had 
built a line of forts or block houses from Alton to 
Kaskaskia, another from Kaskaskia to the salt works 



34 ILLINOIS 

in the Wabash Valley, another along the Wabash and 
the Ohio, and one — Old Fort Dearborn — where Dear- 
born Station, Chicago, now stands. The largest and 
strongest of these, Camp Russel at Edwardsviile, was 
made military headquarters for Illinois. 

52. Captain Heald commanded a garrison of 
seventy men at Fort Dearborn and was ordered to 
evacuate it and go to Vincennes. He started, but on 
the next day, August 15th, 1812, the men with their 
women and children were attacked by overwhelming 
numbers of Indians and most of them were horribly 
massacred. This is known as the Dearborn Massacre. 

53. Colonel William Russell, of Kentucky, or- 
ganized a regiment of rangers, Kentuckians and Illi- 
noisans. Governor Edwards ordered him to Peoria, 
the Indian "hot-bed." Captain Craig went up the 
Illinois River with supplies to co-operate with him. 
The latter arrived first and received such a hot fire 
from the Indians that he could not land until Colonel 
Russell arrived. The Indians, seeing themselves con- 
fronted by a superior force, fled. Captain Craig 
landed, burned the town, captured the remaining in- 
habitants, mostly Frenchmen, and took them to Alton. 
(This last act was cruel and unnecessary.) The next 
year they returned to Peoria and built Fort Clark, 
burnt several Indian villages, then divided the force 
into three parts, leaving only a small garrison. One 
part went up the Illinois River and the other went 
among the Sacs and Foxes on Rock River. 



ILLINOIS 3S 

54. Lieutenant Campbell, with two boats, led an 
expedition up the Mississippi, in 1814, and had a 
deadly encounter with the Indians on what has since 
been known as Campbell's Island. Later in the same 
year, Major Zachary Taylor, the same man who be- 
came president, made a similar expedition and had an 
encounter with British and Indians. Neither expe 
d.tion was a success, but the enemy won dear vie- 
tones. 

55 The experiences growing cut of this war 
caused Congress to pass a law requiring all able- 
bodied men to practice military drill once each month, 
the days on which they met were called "Muster 
days. After the officers had "bawled themselves 
hoarse they would have a barbecue, meantime they 
swapped yarns" and 

"Sleights of art and feats of strength went round." 
These old-time Muster days, after they had served 
so good a purpose, degenerated into drunken 
brawls, usually ending in a free-for-all fight When 
Andrew Jackson became President he recommended 
that musters be discontinued, and it was done. 

56 On September 6th, 1814, Matthew Duncan 
published the first copy of the Illinois Herald This 
was at Kaskaskia, and was the first newspaper in the 
state. There are now about two thousand. 

57. The Bank of Shawneetown, the Bank of Kas- 
kaskia and the Bank of Edwardsville were chartered 
by the territorial legislature in 1816. This was the 



36 



ILLINOIS 



beginning of ''Wildcat Banks." Hitherto the settlers 
never had much money, though it must be remem- 
bered that anything of value served as a medium of 
exchange. 

58. The first Cumberland Presbyterian church in 
the state was organized by Rev. James McGready at 
Sharon, White County, in 1816. 

59. In 1817, Rev. Samuel Wylie organized the 
first Covenanter Presbyterian church in the state. 
This was in a little grove just across the Kaskaskia 
River from Kaskaskia. The well respected family of 
Wylies in Randolph County are his descendants. 



4 






% »;;* ■■■■' • %;-:■■ ;:- \i < 


Up*- ■ 






& 


| A- • 


^ 3gt 


"%^ '- \<*& ■""■ 



A Train of Prairie Schooners. 

(F'rom Woodburn & Mnran's American History, published by Long- 
mans, Green and Co., New York ) 



ILLINOIS 37 

GO. The quarter of a century immediately pre- 
ceding and as long a time following the admission of 
Illinois as a state (1818), we might properly call 
"Pioneer Days." The complete story of the trials and 
triumphs of the brave pioneers of those days will 
never be written, but not even a brief work would 
serve its purpose if it said nothing of them. When 
the Englishman, the Scotchman, the Frenchman, the 
Irishman and the Swede left the "OU Home," they 
did not come at the rate of forty miles an hour on a 
passenger train, but they came in a covered ("kiv- 
ered") wagon drawn by oxen, "way cut west" to Illi- 
nois. Those who came from the New England states 
— New York, New Jersey and Delaware — settled prin- 
cipally in the northern part. People of Pennsylvania, 
Ohio and Indiana settled in the central part, while 
people from Maryland, The Carolinas, Georgia, Ten- 
nessee and Kentucky settled in the southern part. For 
mutual protection several families came together and 
they formed a settlement near some stream where 
timber and water were plentiful. Every man had an 
axe, a rifle, a frow (fro), a drawing-knife, and he 
soon made a shaving-horse. Among them they would 
own one or more whipsaws. Thus equipped, they 
built their single-room log houses with "stick and 
clay" chimneys, their puncheon floors and their clap- 
board roofs. They made their furniture, for all the 
furniture ( ?) they brought along was a skillet with 
an iron lid. The Lord sent manna from heaven to 
feed the Israelites and he was not less kind to the 



38 ILLINOIS 

Pioneers. He rilled the forest with deer which might 
be killed for food. Thus, through the help of Divine 
Providence, they had venison to eat and, figuratively 
and literally, kept the wolf from the door. Nor were 
the women and children idle while this was going on. 
They worked in the ''clearing" or did anything there 
was to do. This is the "start'' these brave and good 
people had when they came into a region filled with 
wild animals and merciless Indian savages. 

61. In the summers of the earlier days the feet 
were not hidden, 

"In the prison cells of pride" 
for they all went barefooted. The clothing was made 
of "buckskin" and they wore "coonskin caps. These 
were their "everyday" and their "Sunday" clothes, 
too, except that occasionally the girls were 

"Decked in their homespun flax and wool" 

which they had brought from the "old home back 
east." The fashion scon changed and they grew 
their own wool and cotton, they carded it, wove it, 
spun it and, on a home-made loom, wove it into cloth. 
Then it was made into clothes for all the family. 
When "Father" went to a "log-rolling," "Mother" 
went too and took her "knitting" along. The "husk- 
ing-bee" and the "apple-cutting" were common forms 
of sociability and of combining business with pleasure. 
G2. The neighbors went into the forests and built 
the rude log church. On one side they put seats for 
the men and boys, and on the other they put seats for 



ILLINOIS 39 

the giris and their mothers. The preacher was one of 
their number who worked through the week, studied 
his Bible at night and preached for two or three hours 
on Sunday. 

"At church, with meek and unaffected grace, 
His looks adorned the venerable place ; 
Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway, 
While fools who came to scoff remained to pray.'" 

The old "camp-meeting,'' once so great a factor for 
good, is now a reality only in memory. 

63. Smith says, "The teacher was like the sea- 
sons ; he came and he went." He took anything of 
^alue for tuition and "boarded round." Though the 
people, «ai| declared how much he knew," 

it is evident that his scholarship, as a general thing, 
"would not pass muster" now. Here is a copy set by 
one of them, "luck at the coppy carefull." Often the 
Bible was the only reader in the school. All were in 
the same Arithmetic class. They used slates and 
home-made soapstone (talc) pencils, home-made ink 
and quill pens. 

64. There were no fever thermometers and the 
good old mother was the family physician, the neigh- 
bors were the undertakers. 

"Yet e'en these bones from insult to protect, 

Some frail memorial still erected nigh, 
With uncouth rhymes and shameless sculpture decked, 

Implores the passing tribute of a sigh. 

Their name, their years, spelt by the unlettered muse, 

The place of fame and elegy supply, 
And many a holy text around she strews, 

That teach the rustic moralist to die." 



40 ILLINOIS 

65. The following is taken from an atlas pub 
lished in 1878: 

''A song for the early times out west, 

And our green old forest home, 
Whose pleasant memories freshly, yet 

Across the bosom come ; 
A song for the free and gladsome life, 

In those early days we led, 
With a teeming soil beneath our feet, 

And a smiling Heaven o'erhead ! 
Oh ! the waves of life danced merrily, 

And had a joyous flow, 
In the days when we were pioneers, 

Some fifty years ago! 

But now our course of life is short, 

And as from day to day, 
We're walking on with halting steps. 

And fainting by the way. 
Another land more bright than this, 

To our dim sight aopears, 
And on our way to it we'll soon 

Again be pioneers. 
Yet while we linger we may all 

A backward glance still throw, 
To the days when we were pioneers, 

Some fifty years ago." 




Seal of the State of Illinois. 



CHAPTER III. 



A GREAT STATE WRESTLING WITH GREAT PROBLEMS, 

1818-1860. 

66. On April 18th, 1818, Congress passed what 
was known as the Enabling Act. This law provided 
that the boundary of Illinois should be as follows: 
Beginning at the mouth of the Wabash River; thence 
up the same and with the line of Indiana, to the north- 
west corner of said state ; thence east with the line of 
said state to the middle of Lake Michigan ; thence 
north along the middie of said Lake to north latitude 
42 degrees and 30 minutes ; thence west to the mid- 
dle of the Mississippi River; thence down along the 
middle of that river to its confluence with the Ohio 
River ; thence up that river along the northwestern 



42 ILLINOIS 

shore to the point of beginning. It further provided 
that when this territory had 40,000 inhabitants, the 
people were authorized to form a constitution and 
that it might become a state. Nathaniel Pope was our 
territorial delegate in Congress at the time and he 
drew up the Enabling Act, making the northern 
boundary 41 degrees 39 minutes. In that form it was 
recommended by the committee having it in charge, 
but when it was before Congress for passage he pro- 
posed an amendment which made it 42 degrees 30 
minutes north latitude. The amendment carried after 
much debating and thus it remains. 

67. The American Atlas published in Philadel- 
phia a few years later says the population of Illinois 
in 1818 was 35,220, but by a peculiar manipulation of 
figures in taking the census, it was claimed that Illi- 
nois had 40,000 people. Delegates were elected to a 
constitutional convention. The constitution was drawn 
up and agreed to by the delegates (August 26th, 
1818), but was never voted on by the people. An 
election was held for Governor, Lieutenant Governor. 
Congressman (one), and members of the General As- 
sembly (State Legislature). The Legislature met 
at Kaskaskia, the capital, on October 5th, 1818, and 
Shadrach Bond, the Governor-elect, was duly inaug- 
urated on the next day. John McLean had been elect- 
ed to Congress and the Legislature elected Jesse B. 
Thomas and Ninian Edwards to the United States 
Senate. McLean, Thomas and Edwards went to 
Washington but Congress would not swear them in 



ILLINOIS 43 

until it had approved the constitution. After stren- 
uous opposition, a bill approving it passed December 
3d and President Monroe signed it the next day. Illi- 
nois thus became a state on December 4th, 1818. The 
home of a French planter was used as the capitol. 

G8. The advocates of slavery knew that Congress 
would not admit Illinois to the Union unless the con- 
stitution contained an anti-slavery clause. With this 
in view they inserted a clause providing that, "Neither 
slavery nor involuntary servitude shall hereafter be 
introduced/' The trick in the word, "hereafter," was 
discovered but men like William H. Harrison did not 
believe it was so intended and it passed. Subsequent 
events confirmed the views of the most pessimistic in 
the matter. 

G9. By studying the history of our flag it will be 
seen that Congress had just adopted the present style 
of flag, i. e. thirteen stars and thirteen stripes, with 
one star added for each state added to the original 
thirteen. Illinois' star appeared in the flag on July 
4th, 1819. 

70. In 1819, Governor Bond called the Legisla- 
ture together and it passed a law locating the capital 
at Vandalia. It also passed what was known as the 
"Black Code." As the name might imply, it was 
concerning the negro. It provided: That a negro 
could not bring suit nor testify in any court; that if 
he were found ten miles from home he could be taken 
before a justice and whipped twenty-five lashes; that 



44 ILLINOIS 

unless he had a certificate of freedom his services for 
one year could be sold by the sheriff ; that he might 
be sold on execution or mortgaged for his master's 
debts ; that no person could legally bring a slave to the 
state for the purpose of freeing him without giving a 
bond of $1,000 guaranteeing that such slave would be 
a law-abiding and self-supporting citizen. The negro 
slave had a home and a master that would protect him 
but the free negro was an outcast liable to all kinds 
of indignities even to being kidnapped and sold down 
the river. He therefore often made himself a volun- 
tary slave to some master. 

71. In the fall of 1820, at a cost of only twenty- 
five dollars, a young man, Sidney Breese, who later 
became United States Senator, moved the records to 
the new capitol, a two-story frame building at Van- 
dalia. As an incident of pioneer life it might be noted 
that while Vandalia was the capital the members of 
the Legislature became tired of venison and wanted 
"civilized meat." 

72. Banks everywhere in the country were falling 
and times were extremely hard. In order to satisfy a 
popular clamor, the Legislature, in 1820, passed a law 
organizing a State Bank. It was to be at Vandalia 
and to have branches at Brownsville near where Mur- 
physboro now stands, at Edwardsville, at Albion and 
at Shawneetown. State Bank bills were issued to the 
amount of a haif million dollars. Several of our 
wisest financiers were opposed to the state's going into 
the "wild cat bank" business, but the masses wanted 



ILLINOIS 45 

it. The bills depreciated to thirty cents on the dollar 
and times were harder than before (except with 
members of the Legislature. That body passed a law 
that state officers should be paid in this money at cur- 
rent value.) 

73. In 1821, Timothy Burnett was hanged at 
Belleville for killing Alonzo C. Stewart in a duel. This 
was the only legal execution for dueling in Illinois. 




Edward Coles. 



74. In 1822, Edward Coles was elected governcr. 
In his inaugural address he advocated the repeal of 
the Black Laws, and this brought on a contest thut 
lasted during his entire term. The slavery men 
claiming to no longer be bound by the Ordinance of 
1787, wanted to amend the constitution so as to legal- 
ize slavery in Illinois. Accordingly, in 1823, the Leg- 



46 ILLINOIS 

islature, after unseating Nicholas Hansen, who opposed 
the amendment, and seating John Shaw, who favored 
it, passed a resolution to submit to the people, the ques- 
tion of calling a convention to revise the constitution. 
Governor Coles spent his entire salary for four years 
($4,000), fighting this measure. Morris Birkbeck, i 
liberty-loving Englishman, Rev. John Mason Peck, a 
Yankee Baptist preacher, Hon. Henry Eddy, editor of 
the Illinois Emigrant at Shawneetown, and many oth- 
ers did valuable service in the fight. It was voted on. 
August 2d, 1824, and the anti-slavery men won by a 
majority of 1GG8. It might be added that Governor 
Coles, like many other good men, was very unpopular, 
in his lifetime, but his name will long live in history 
as the one who did most to prevent the legalizing of 
slavery in Illinois. 

75. In 1824, a new capitol, a two-story brick 
structure which cost $12,381.50, was built to replace 
the one built in 1820 which had been destroyed by 
fire. 

76. The first law providing for a free school in 
Illinois was proposed by Joseph Duncan, Representa- 
tive from Jackson County. It passed on January 15th. 
1825. About the same time the public-spirited citi- 
zens of Edwards County built a schoolhouse with 
"real glass windows." It was the first of its kind in 
the state. 

77. In 1825 General Lafayette visited the state 
of Illinois and was received with great honor at Kas- 
kaskia, at Vandalia and at Shawneetown. Reynolds 



ILLINOIS 47 

says he was lame from a wound received in achiev- 
ing: our liberties and it seemed that his lameness add- 
ed to his noble bearing as it told to the heart the story 
of the Revolution. 

78. In 1825 Rev. George Wolf organized a 
church not far from the hill known as Bald Knob in 
Union County. It was dedicated to "Religious Lib- 
erty" but was composed mostly of Dunkards and Uni- 
versalists. 

79. Ninian Edwards, a former territorial gov- 
ernor, was elected governor in 1826. One of his first 
acts was to openly charge the management of the State 
Bank with wilful violation of the law. The Legisla- 
ture "investigated" and as modern politicians put it, 
the whole thing was "whitewashed." One member 
of the Legislature, who was sent to Shawneetown to 
examine the bank there said he found plenty of good 
whiskey and sugar to sweeten it. Governor Edwards 
was what might be termed an aristocrat. He wore a 
coat trimmed in gold lace at his inaugural. 

80. On New Year's day, 1827, Dr. John Mason 
Peck organized "The Theological Seminary and High 
School" at Rock Springs, St. Clair County. It was 
the first seminary in the state. Later it was moved to 
Alton and is now Shurtleff College. 

81. The so-called Winnebago War, in 1827, is 
one of the most disgraceful things recorded on the 
pages of history. The Winnebagoes lived near Ga- 
lena and the "Palefaces," by hundreds, were over- 



48 ILLINOIS 

running their lands in search of lead. Some boatmen 
from Fort Snelling, in a drinking carousal with the 
Indians, forced their squaws on the boats and pulled 
away, not returning until the next day. The Indians 
had sobered up and in their righteous indignation at- 
tacked them. Several on each side were killed in the 
fight. Sixteen hundred soldiers came to the scene. 
Several Indians were arrested, tried for murder and 
executed. Ye Gods ! talk of Helen of Troy ! Had 
American womanhood been thus disgraced, the 
United States would have fought the world or the 
cfTender — not the defender — would have been pun- 
ished. 

82. McKendree College was founded by Rev. 
Peter Cartright in 1828. It is located at Lebanon. 

83. In 1829 the Duncan Free School Law was 
repealed and a new one passed providing for the sale 
of the lands which had been donated by Congress for 
the benefit of the public schools. The object in sell- 
ing it was, not to help the schools, but to loan this 
money to the state and heip the tottering State Bank 
which had been the spoils of politicians for so many 
years. 

84. In 1830 John Reynolds was elected governor. 
In the same year the Salt Works near Equality which 
the United States had recently ceded to Illinois, were 
sold and the first state penitentiary was built at Alton 
with the proceeds. 

85. After the state had lost a half million dollars 



ILLINOIS 



49 



in "high-handed financiering," the State Bank went 
out of business in 1831, its charter having expired. 



Wfh 






' "^ §,'v 




•"• $&$# 




Wr 


4 ^ £■ 


V 


| >■%> 


i ! t" 




14HI 




11 



Black Hawk. 



86. The Black Hawk War occurred in 1831-2 
Several years before some Indians of the Sac and Fox 
tribes, while intoxicated, had transferred to the United 
States most of the lands in the region of Rock River 
belonging to the tribes, reserving it until the land was 
sold to actual settlers. Black Hawk, the Sac Chief., 
objected on the ground of fraud. Now that Keokuk, 
a rival chief, had ceded all his lands east of the Mis- 
sissippi, and that his own village had been taken while 



50 ILLINOIS 

he was away hunting, he could no longer endure it. 
His war-like spirit was for a while appeased by an ol4 
friend, a fur trader at Rock Island. The people, who 
were themselves usurpers, did not feel secure, and 
called on Governor Reynolds for protection. Sixteen 
hundred soldiers were soon on the scene. Black 
Hawk and his famishing followers of men, women and 
children, crossed the Mississippi westward. On Jan- 
uary 26th, 1832, the troops burned his village. Four 
days later he gave up all claim to Illinois soil. 

87. In the spring of 1832 he started across the 
northwest corner of Illinois, going to his friends, the 
Winnebagoes, in Wisconsin, to beg a place to plant 
corn, and was ordered back. He did not heed. Gov- 
ernor Reynolds, with all the pomp of an Alexander 
with eighteen hundred men, met him near Dixon. 
Here a man named Stillman, while leading a recon- 
noitering party, met a half dozen "Braves" under a 
flag of truce and fired on them. "Black Hawk's spirit 
rose high in his bosom" at such an act. He attacked 
Stillman and killed twelve of his men, putting the rest 
to flight. This disgraceful scene was the real begin- 
ning of the war. 

88. The time of most of the soldiers had now ex- 
pired and they went home, but a new army of twenty- 
seven hundred men was raised. This was in addition 
to General Scott's army of one thousand men at Fort 
Dearborn which did no service on account of the 
cholera. Black Hawk, seeing this formidable force 
arrayed against him, fled. He was pursued and in a 



ILLINOIS 51 

series of conflicts more than a hundred of his men 
were killed. He finally surrendered to the Winneba- 
goes and was turned over to the United States au- 
thorities, August 27th, and the war was over. 

89. It had taken over seven thousand troops and 
had cost over a million dollars to put four hundred 
men with their starving families off the land of which 
they had been robbed. The Federal Court decided 
that nothing but honorable warfare could be charged 
against him and he was released in 1833. 

"Black Hawk is an Indian ; he has done nothing of which 
an Indian need to be ashamed. He has fought the battles of 
his countrymen against the white men, who came year after 
year to cheat them and take away their lands. You know the 
nnT, °, °k r m f; kln g war— it is known to all white men-they 
ought to be ashamed of it. The white men despise the In- 
dians and drive them from their homes, but the Indians are 
w!l de f Ce i t - ful - T h | white men speak bad of the Indian and 
look at him spitefully, but the Indian does not tell li~> In- 
dians do not steal. Black Hawk is satisfied. He wilf go to 
the world of spirits contented. He has done his dutv. His 
Father will meet him and reward him.'— Extract horn a 
speech delivered by Black Hawk when he was turned over 
oy the Winncbagoes to the United States authorities. 

90. In 1834 Governor Reynolds was elected to 
Congress and on November 17th of that year he re- 
signed the office of Governor, whereupon Acting 
Lieutenant Governor William L. D. Ewing became 
governor. 

91. On December 3d, 1831, Joseph Duncan was 
inaugurated governor. He advocated a free school 
system, a series of internal improvements and a state 
bank. The Legislature ignored the school question 



52 



ILLINOIS 



but the same year it passed a law to incorporate a 
company to construct the Illinois and Michigan canal. 
Then, in anticipation of securing loans from the gov- 
ernment according to President Jackson's policy, they 
passed other laws organizing the State Bank and to 
revive the defunct Bank of Illinois at Shawneetown. 
For political reasons these banks never got any money 
that was distributed to "Pet Banks," though in 183G 
Congress divided among the states, the money that 
had accumulated in the national treasury. Illinois re- 
ceived $335,000. It was to be added to the School 
Fund and is known as the surplus revenue. This 
was technically a loan but really a gift. The state 
used the money and pays interest on it into the school 
fund. 




Last State House at Vandalia. (As it was.) 



ILLINOIS 53 

92. On Christmas day, 1835, the first lodge of 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in the state was 
organized at Alton. It was named Western Star 
Lodge. 

93. The state was beginning to need a new cap- 
ital and several cities were rivals with Vandalia for 
its location. Hoping to settle the matter for all time 
to come, the public-spirited citizens of Vandalia, in 

1836, tore down the capitol that had been erected in 
1824, and built a commodious brick structure at a 
cost of $16,000. It is now the Fayette County Court 
House. 

94. The people were wild on internal improve- 
ments. Governor Duncan awakened to the situation 
and strongly counselled economy, but to no avail. In 

1837, the Legislature authorized the construction of 
a series of railroads, canals, etc., that raised the state 
debt from $217,276 to $6,668,784. 

95. On November 7th, 1837, Elijah P. Lovejoy 
was murdered by a pro-slavery mob at Alton, be- 
cause he published an anti-slavery paper.. Several 
presses had been destroyed and he was defending a 
new one against an excited crowd when the fatal shot 
was fired. Almost prophetic of his impending death 
he had said only a few days before, "The present ex- 
citement will soon be over ; the voice of conscience will 
at last be heard and in some season of honest thought 
you will be compelled to say, 'He was right' ". He 
was the first to lay down his life in that awful strug- 



54 



ILLINOIS 



gle for liberty, and his martyrdom is spoken of as the 
beginning of the end of slavery. 




Lovejoy Monument, Alton, Illinois. 

96. The city of Chicago was incorporated in 1837 
and William B. Ogden was elected the first mayor. A 
short time previous to this, the Pottowatomie band 
consisting of over five thousand, visited Chicago for 
the last time and found substantial buildings where 
the grass had grown for ages. This war-like band had 
already made a treaty to go west of the Missouri, and 
now fully realized that they must take up the lot of the 
exile. They engaged in a mimic war-dance, then 
silently and sadly took their departure for the unknown 
west. 

97. The Great Northern Cross Railroad which 



ILLINOIS 55 

had been planned to run from Springfield to Quincy 
(see 94), was completed from Springfield to Mere- 
dosia, a distance of about twenty-five miles. An en- 
gine was brought from Pittsburg and put on it No- 
vember 8th, 1838. This was the first in the state. 

98. Thomas Carlin was inaugurated governor 
December 7th, 1838. He became alarmed at the 
financial difficulties confronting the State and, follow- 
ing the example of his illustrious predecessor, he 
"about-faced" and counselled economy. The Legis- 
lature now saw that they were right and tried as hard 
to save money as previous ones had to spend it. 

99. In the summer and fall of 1838, a great epi- 
demic of chills and fever raged in Southern Illinois. 
For a period of over four months there was scarcely 
any rain. The dews no longer fell and the sun was 
mercilessly warm. In the meantime suffering and 
death reigned supreme. In going through these re- 
gions, travelers would often find homes in which 
every member of the family was sick. What a bless- 
ing it was that a stranger should be guided by Divine 
Providence to the lonely cabin to give a cup of cold 
water to the sick and the dying! It continued until 
after the great eclipse of the sun on September 18th. 
The Indians said the Great Spirit was angry and 
many others thought the Judgment Day was at han I. 
but the sun came out bright as ever and that was fol- 
lowed by a good rain. The air was purified and the 
pestilence vanished. 



56 



ILLINOIS 



100. The capital was moved to Springfield in 
1831). The old Presbyterian Church was used as *i 
• pitol pending the completion of the one being built 
by the state. (The capitol built this year is now the 
Sangamon County Court House.) 




James G. Birney. 

101. In the presidential canvass of 1840, other 
things besides <4 iog cabin and hard cider" were 
thought of. The martyrdom of Lovejoy had its re- 
sults, the question of slavery was brought into national 
politics and James G. Birney of Fulton County became 
the first candidate for president on the Anti-slaverv 
ticket. 

102. Thomas Ford was inaugurated governor 
December 8th, 1842. The state was in deplorable 



ILLINOIS 57 

shape, financially. Many wild expenditures had been 
made until in 1842 the Bank of Illinois at Shawnee- 
town and the State Bank at Springfield became bank- 
rupt. The state lost heavily in each of these and in all its 
speculative schemes. The people awakened from their 
delusive dream of munificence and splendor, found the 
state $14,000,000 in debt, its credit to such a low ebb 
that its bonds sold with difficulty at fourteen cents on 
the dollar and nothing to show for it except a railroad 
from Merodosia to Springfield (97) which was after- 
wards sold for $100,000 in state bonds. There was 
now open talk of repudiating the state debt but Gov- 
ernor Ford took a very decided stand in favor of pay- 
ing the whole of it without defalcation or discount. 
His wise counsel prevailed and the credit of the state 
was saved. 

103. In 1844 the Secretary of State was made ex- 
officio State Superintendent of Schools. 

104. The Mormons, or Latter Day Saints, set- 
tled at Nauvoo, in Hancock County, and became a 
power in Illinois politics. They secured favors from 
each party, Whigs and Democrats, until they became 
so strong as to maintain their own militia and to defy 
the authority of the state. Things came to a crisis in 
1844 when Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith, his 
brother, were arrested for counterfeiting, placed in 
the county jail at Carthage and were murdered by a 
ir.ob. A reign of chaos followed but in 1846 the Mor- 
mons went to Utah and established Salt Lake City. 



58 ILLINOIS 

There were sixteen thousand of them, and it is said 
to have taken twelve hundred wagons. 

105. In 1845 the United States Supreme Court 
decided that the descendants of slaves brought to the 
state prior to the adoption of the Ordinance of 1787 ; 
could not be held as slaves. 







4 



General James Shields. 
(Kindness of Dr. J. F. Snyder, Virginia, Illinois.) 

106. On May 13th, 1846, President Polk called 
for volunteers to serve in the war with Mexico. The 
call on Illinois was for three thousands troops, but it 
was met with six thousand of our brave men who 
acquitted themselves creditably in every battle. They 
were led by that great statesman and soldier, General 
James Shields. "From Palo Alto and Resaca de la 
Palma westward to Monterey the intrepid fighters 



ILLINOIS 59 

marched, and then across and down to Saltillo, Vic- 
toria and Tampico until they routed Santa Anna on 
the field of Buena Vista. In the south of Mexico the 
conquering host mowed a swath of glory from Vera 
Cruz until they reached the heart and center and 
camped within the capital of Mexico." 

107. When the Mexican War was over, General 
Shields came back to Kaskaskia and was elected to the 
United States Senate. After he completed his term 
he moved to Minnesota and was honored by that state 
with the same office. He then went to California, en- 
listed in the Civil War and, with the rank of Briga- 
dier General, was assigned to the Army of The Poto- 
mac. After the Civil War was over he went to Mis- 
souri and was elected to the United States Senate. 
When his term of office expired, he went to Iowa 
where he died. 

108. Wisconsin was admitted to the Union in 
1846. This is worthy of note in Illinois history, be- 
cause the former state tried to gain back the strip of 
territory which had been added to the latter in 1818. 

109. Augustus C. French was inaugurated gov- 
ernor on December 9th, 1846. There were so many 
problems before him for solution that it would have 
frightened the faint-hearted. The Mexican War was 
in progress. The state had out-grown the old consti- 
tution and changed conditions made a new one neces- 
sary. The internal improvement question which had 
agitated the minds of the people for so many years, 
was up for settlement and the failures of the past had 



60 ILLINOIS 

made it extremely difficult to do anything now. Each 
of these questions were met face to face and solved in 
course of time, much to the credit of those who did 
it. 

110. In 1818 the Illinois and Michigan Canal 
was completed. It had been under consideration for 
twenty-five years and work had been carried on at in- 
tervals for twelve years. The United States had 
given each odd-numbered section in a strip of land 
ten miles in width along its entire length to aid in its 
construction, and it had cost the state over $5,000,000. 
but after all, it paid and has since been deepened until 
water flows through it from Lake Michigan down the 
Illinois River. It is now the Chicago Drainage 
Canal. This same year a railroad was builr 
from Chicago, ten miles westward, by the Galena & 
Chicago Union Railway Company. This was the be- 
ginning of the great Chicago & North-Western Rail- 
way System. 




The Pioneer— First Locomotive in Chicago. 

(Kindness of M. J. Clay, Chicago, Illinois.) 



ILLINOIS 61 

111. By a vote of the people, a new constitution 
was adopted March 6th, 1848. It contained a clause 
prohibiting slavery and was the first state constitution 
to prohibit imprisonment for debt. It also provided 
that an election for state officers should be held that 
year. Since Governor French had thereby been leg- 
islated out of two years of his term, he was given a 
second term practically without opposition. On Jan- 
uary 8th, 1849, he was inaugurated the second time. 

112. The trouble between the Flatheads and the 
Regulators or what is sometimes called the "Carnival 

o 

of Crime" was carried on in Massac and adjoining 
counties in the forties. In the early days most of the 
immigrants to Southern Illinois came across or down 
the Ohio River. That region then became the chosen 
location of a band of outlaws, for there they could 
easily trade or sell to the unsuspecting immigrant, 
stolen horses or buy goods of them paying therefor 
counterfeit money or forged warrants on the State 
Treasury. They made it a business also to kidnap 
free negroes, take them South and sell them into 
bondage. These outlaws became so strong as to con- 
trol elections and the courts. If people interfered, 
their property was destroyed and sometimes they 
themselves were killed. The law abiding citizens or- 
ganized the "Regulators" and the outlaws were 
given the name, "Flatheads." Finally, in 1849, 
through the influence of Ex-Governor Reynolds, who 
was again in the legislature, a law was passed where- 
by persons accused of crime could be taken to adjoin- 



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other tilings : : teachers ta pass an exa a- 

tion in reading writing - g 9 

g aphy. Strange as it ma seem to us now. the peo- 
ple thought these re ots toe severe and they 
s later. 
11?. In 1856 the Republican party v. is 
The anti-slavery people of Illinois wei e in this 
;. put in the field an entire state ticket which 
though Tames Buchanan the 
state for president. 




Locomotive used bv the I. C. K. K. Co. i: 



iM. The Dlii] s : . was completed in 

roenc urage and help the Illinois Central Rail- 
road •:>- to build it, the - : . granted all the 
land given by the government for that purpose. (113). 
There is a pop v. lion that the Illinois Central 

Iroad Company pays no tax. but in lieu thereof 
pays to the st - sent of the g ss 



64 



ILLINOIS 



Here are the facts as taken from their charter : it pays 
no tax except to the state. It must pay five per cent 
of the gross earnings and a state tax not to exceed 
three fourths of one per cent of the valuation of ail 
the assets, provided that if these do not equal seven 
per cent of the gross receipts, the said Company must 
also pay the difference to the state. It will thus be 







Illinois State Normal University, Normal. 



seen that the state is entitled to the alternative that 
will bring the most money into the state treasury, 
(153). Much censure was heaped upon the legisla- 
ture for giving all this land to a corporation, but il 
was a wise move, financially and otherwise. Land 
through which the road ran was offered in 1851 at 



ILLINOIS 65 

$1.25 per acre with no buyer. In 1856 the same land 
sold at from $2.50 to $5.00 per acre. The money re- 
ceived by the state was applied to its interest-bearing 
obligations and in course of time the immense debt 
of the state was paid (140). The above conditions 
concerning taxes applied only to the original lines 
and not to lines which have been bought or leased 
since. 

119. William H. Bissell was inaugurated gov- 
ernor January 12th, 185T. This same year three im- 
portant laws were passed. One provided for the es- 
tablishment of a State Normal University, which was 
located at Normal. Another provided that people of 
any school district could vote a tax for school pur- 
poses not to exceed two per cent, in addition to the 
tax authorized by the law of 1855. The last one au- 
thorized the building of the penitentiary at Joliet. 

120. In 1858 Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. 
Douglas became candidates for the United States 
Senate. It would be decided by the legislature, many 
of the members of which were to be elected that fail. 
Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of debates. 
The challenge was accepted and they debated at Ot- 
tawa, Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston, Galesburg 
Quincy and Alton. Against the protest of his friends.. 
Lincoln asked Douglas if he favored popular sover- 
eignty. The latter answered in the affirmative. Lin- 
coln had said, 'This may lead to my own defeat, bu^ 
it will keep Douglas from ever being president." 
(Can it be that Lincoln foresaw that this answer 



66 ILLINOIS 

would split the Democratic party and open up the 
way for the ultimate success of his own party?) The 
Republican ticket received the majority, but by rea- 
son of an unfair apportionment the Democrats had 54 
in the General Assembly and the Republicans only 
46. Douglas won, but Lincoln's sound logic and fore- 
sightedness made him the successful candidate for 
president two years later. This debate is sometimes 
spoken of as "The Battle of the Giants," and was 
probably the greatest event of its kind in the Nine- 
teenth Century. 

121. An event of which we are not proud now 
requires our attention. In 1859 it was discovered that 
Ex-Governor Joel A. Matteson had defrauded the 
state out of about $250,000. His property was siezed 
by the state and it thus regained most of the money. 
He was never prosecuted, but his latter days were 
days of sorrow and regret, and he died without money 
or friends. 

122. On March 8th, 1860, Governor Bissell died 
and Lieutenant Governor John Wood became gov- 
ernor. 

123. From early days in Illinois, slaves from the 
South fled northward and were pursued by the slave 
catcher. While those who sympathized with slavery 
assisted the pursuers, the anti-slavery men helped the 
slave in his flight toward Canada and for that purpose 
conducted what has been known as the underground 
railway. It was a violation of the law, but they felt 



ILLINOIS 67 

that unfair means had been brought to bear in the 
elections and in the courts and that the slave-catcher 
and kidnapper were daily violating the law in their in- 
human traffic. Thus they felt justified in appealing to 
a "higher law.'' 

124. The southern terminus of one of these routes 
was on the Ohio near Metropolis, another was at 
Chester, another at Alton, and a fourth one at Quincy. 
They came together near LaSalle. Here the negroes 
either hired out among the farmers or made their way 
to Lake Michigan and got aboard a steamer, where 
they were purposely not discovered until they reached 
a British port, then, with great show of indignation, 
they were put off. By this plan hundreds of negro 
men, women and children were taken from slavery to 
freedom. 

125. "The engineers, conductors, brakemen and 
station agents upon these lines were God-fearing men. 
who had the courage of their convictions, and, if oc- 
casion required, did not hesitate, when on duty, to use 
force to protect their passengers from the interference 
of slave owners and slave-catchers, whom they loathed 
and despised." 



CHAPTER IV. 

1860-1908. 
126. On May 16th, 1860, the National Republi- 
can Convention met at the Wigwam in Chicago and 
nominated Abraham Lincoln for president. He was 
elected over Stephen A. Dcuglas, his closest rival, the 
following November and for the next five years — dur- 
ing the trying years of the Great Rebellion — the his- 
tory of Illinois becomes an important part of that of 
the Nation. 

"Not without thy wondrous story, 

Illinois Illinois. 
Can be writ the Nation's glory, 

Illinois Illinois." 







Richard Yates, Sr. 

127. Richard Yates, the "War Governor," was 
inaugurated January 14th, 1861. We were now en- 



ILLINOIS 



69 



tering into a great conflict. On April 14th Fort Sump- 
ter was fired on by the Confederates and the Civil 
War had begun. The next day President Lincoln 
called on each loyal state for troops and the men from 
every hill and dale in Illinois responded, "We are com- 
ing, Father Abraham." Acting under instructions 
from the War Department, Governor Yates ordered 
Cairo to be fortified, then removed thirty thousand 
muskets, a number of cannon and a lot of other sup- 
plies from the United States arsenal at St. Louis, at 
that time a secession hot-bed, and without orders tele- 
graphed the troops at Cairo to capture two boats of 
supplies that the Rebels were taking down the river. 




Stephen A. Douglas, the '• Little Giant.' 



70 



ILLINOIS 



128. When the clouds of war fell like a pall over 
the land, Stephen A. Douglas was patriotic enough, 
like Jonathan of old, to rise above blasted hopes and 
disappointments, above partisanship and prejudice, to 
help his successful rival and he came out for the Un- 
ion, declaring: "There can be no neutrals in this 




General John A. Logan. 

war ; either patriots or traitors." Many who had voted 
for Douglas ("Douglas Democrats") remained Demo- 
crats and came out for the Union. A few who were seces- 
sionists at heart voted with the Democrats but did 
ail in their power to further the interests of the seces- 
sionists, generally joining such an organization as the 



ILLINOIS 71 

Knights of the Golden Circle, a band of organized 
traitors. Still others of them became ''Lincoln Re- 
publicans" (nicknamed "Black Republicans" because 
they were opposed to the extension of slavery) and 
were loyal to the Union. The author's father voted 
for Douglas and became a Republican and more than 
once did the Knights of the Golden Circle attempt to 
t^ke his life. 

129. General John A. Logan was in Congress 
when the war broke out, but he resigned his office, 
went back to southern Illinois, and, in defiance of op- 
position, made speeches for the Union in localities 
where it was unsafe for it to be known that he was not 
in favor of secession. He did more than any other one 
man to save southern Illinois for the Union. He 
started from Cairo as Colonel, fought in more than a 
hundred battles and by dauntless courage won the 
rank of Major General. He later served his state in 
Congress and the United States Senate and was the 
candidate of the Republican party for vice president in 
1884. He stands without a peer as a soldier, as a 
statesman and as a man. 

130. When President Lincoln called for volun- 
teers, Ulysses S. Grant volunteered to serve the 
country in any capacity and soon demonstrated his 
ability as a military leader, inscribing on his banners 
such victories as Donelson, Shiloh, Iuka, Corinth and 
Vicksburg. By act of Congress he was then made 
Lieutenant General. This office was created that he 
might be placed in command of all the armies of the 



72 



ILLINOIS 



United States. He at once took command of the Army 
of the Potomac in person because he wanted to fight 
General Robert E. Lee, the ablest Confederate general. 
The world knows the tragic story of the capture of 
General Lee's army after four long, bloody years. 
After the war was over, Grant served two terms as 
President of the United States. 











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General Ulysses S. Grant. 

131. More than two centuries ago, Andrew 
Fletcher said, ''Give me the making of the ballads and 
I care not who makes the laws of a nation.'' That his 
logic is correct was never better demonstrated than in 
the Civil War, but he might have added, "I care not 



ILLINOIS 73 

who fights the battles." The patriotic songs: "King- 
dom Coming," "Brave Boys are They," and "March 
Through Georgia" were all written by Henry Clay 
Work of Illinois and "Just Before the Battle, Moth- 
er," "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp," and "The Battle Cry 
of Freedom," were written by G. F. Root of Illinois. 
If the battle went ill or well, when the soldier heard 
these patriotic melodies his heart rose high in his, 
bosom and he was eager to renew the conflict. 

132. In 1863, the Legislature expressed itself de- 
cidedly against the Union and Governor Yates ad- 
journed it against its will. This reminds us of Oliver 
Cromwell's dissolving the Long Parliament more than 
two hundred years before. The war dragged miser- 
ably on while the patriot mothers — bless their sacred 
memory — bore the burdens at home. 

133. On January lGth, 18G5, General Richard J. 
Oglesby was inaugurated governor. On February 1st 
of the same year President Lincoln signed the Thir- 
teenth Amendment. The fact was telegraphed to 
Governor Oglesby, transmitted to the General As- 
sembly and adopted all in the same day. A few days 
later the Black Laws (70) were repealed. The war 
ended April 9th with the surrender of Lee's army and 
Lincoln was assassinated April 14th. Thus ends the 
story of slavery, so full of sadness yet so full of glory. 
Illinois had furnished Abraham Lincoln, the Martyr 
President; Ulysses S. Grant, the greatest military 
strategist since the time of Hannibal ; John A. Logan, 
the greatest volunteer soldier the world ever knew ; 



74 



ILLINOIS 



and 259,000 of her gallant "men behind the guns," who 
carried their blcod-stained banner through the very 
region that cradled and nurtured and from whence 
sallied forth on its mission of crime, misery and blood, 
the disturbing and disorganizing spirit of secession 
and rebellion. 

"Ah ! never shall the land forget 

How gushed the life blood of her brave — 

Gushed warm with hope and courage yet 
Upon the soil they fought to save." 




Geueral Kichard J. Oglesby. 

134. England was much in sympathy with the 
South, and, when it was evident that the Union would 
be preserved, prophesied that such a vast army could 
never be disbanded peaceably as each soldier, practiced 
to the arts of war and unused to peace, would become 






ILLINOIS 



75 



practically an outlaw, but he returned to the aban- 
doned office or shop or farm when the war was over. 
"And quietly took up the broken ends of love and life 
as best he could, a better citizen for having been so 
good a soldier." 

135. To Dr. B. F. Stephenson, who had served 
the country as surgeon of the 14th Illinois Infantry 
during the Civil War, is due the honor of originating 
the Grand Army of the Republic, he having organize I 
Post No. 1 at Decatur, Illinois, April 6th, the fourth 
anniversary of the battle of Shiloh. 







Engineering: Hall, University of Illinois. 



136. In 1867 a law was passed which established 
the State University at Urbana. The expense of build- 
ing it was greatly offset by a gift of 480,000 acres of 
land which the government gave to the state for that 
purpose. 



7n 



ILLINOIS 




Present State Capitol. 

137. On October 5th, 1868, the corner stone of 
the new State Capitol was laid. It took twenty years 
to complete it and cost nearly five million dollars, but 
it is one of the finest in the United States. (Briefly 
reviewing : the Territory of Illinois had one capitol 
though it never owned it ; the State of Illinois has had 
three capital cities — Kaskaskia, Vandalia and Spring- 
field and seven capitol buildings, five of which it 
owned. See 67, 71, 75, 93, 100.) 

138. General John M. Palmer was inaugurated 
governor on January 11th, 1869, and on July 2d of the 



ILLINOIS 



77 



next year our third state constitution was adopted. 
Among many other good features, it contained a pro- 
vision prohibiting the state or any political division 
thereof from giving aid to any private enterprise and 
another providing for minority representation. 




Southern Illinois Normal University, Carbondale. 

139. In the year 1870, the Legislature passed a 
law to establish the Southern Illinois Normal Univer- 
sity. After a spirited contest among different cities of 
southern Illinois it was finally located at Carbondale 
and its doors were opened four years later. 

140. On October 8th and 9th, 1871, the great 
Chicago fire occurred. It covered an area of 2200 acres 
— burning nearly 16,000 buildings with a total valua- 
tion of $200,000,000. The death roll was over 300 



78 ILLINOIS 

and 200,000 were rendered homeless. Insurance for 
about $100,000,000 was carried by 201 companies; 68 
of these companies were forced into liquidation and 
only about half the insurance was ever collected. 
From the ruins of the old wooden city a "New Chi- 
cago" immediately sprang up that has been the won- 
der of the world. It is said that the fire was caused 
by a cow's kicking a lantern over. It may seem strange 
if we say that the smoke was seen over the entire state. 

141. General Richard J. Oglesby was again in- 
augurated governor on January 13th, 18.3. Eight 
days later he was elected to the United States Senate. 
He resigned the governorship and Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor John L. Beveridge became governor. 

142. Shelby M. Cullom was inaugurated govern- 
or January 8th, 1877. During this administration the 
last burdensome dollar of state indebtedness, which at 
one time amounted to $16,000,000 was paid and Illi- 
nois alone of all the states was out of debt until Gov- 
ernor Altgeld's administration. Governor Cullom was 
re-elected in 1880 and re-inaugurated January 10th, 
1881. He was elected to the United States Senate in 
1883 and Lieutenant Governor John M'. Hamilton suc- 
ceeded to the governor's office. 

143. General Richard J. Oglesby was for the 
third time inaugurated governor on January 13th 
1885. On May 4th, 1886, a mob collected on Hay- 
market Square, Chicago, and when the police ap- 
proached seven of the latter were killed by the explo- 






ILLINOIS 79 

sion of a bomb thrown among them. Eight men were 
tried for this crime, four of whom were hanged and 
three were sent to the penitentiary. The other com- 
mitted suicide. 

144. Joseph W. Fifer, popularly called "Private 
Joe," was inaugurated governor on January, 14th. 
1889. This year a law was passed for the construc- 
tion of the Chicago Drainage Canal. It was to be 
along the route of the Illinois and Michigan Canal and 
was to be deep enough to allow the water to flow from 
Lake Michigan into the Illinois River. 

145. The Mississippi River had a number of 
times overflowed its banks and was changing its 
course in the region of Old Kaskaskia to such an ex- 
tent that the site of that once proud metropolis of the 
Mississippi Valley had almost disappeared and the 
graves of those who had lived there in the early days 
of Illinois seemed soon to be washed away. In 1892 
the Legislature appropriated $10,000 for the purpose 
of removing the remains from the cemetery to one to 
be selected on higher ground. On account of objec- 
tions raised by their descendants, the graves of a few 
were left to be washed away, but there were probably 
more than 2,000 removed to "Garrison Hill," a beauti- 
ful site overlooking the Mississippi as it flows placidly 
over the old. The exact number will never be known, 
as the Mississippi had broken in and badly mixed some 
of the graves and part of the removal was of neces- 
sity a "wholesale" affair, however the work was done 
with much credit to all concerned. In the new ceme- 



80 ILLINOIS 

tery on Garrison Hill stands a beautiful monument, 
bearing this inscription: 



Those who sleep here were first buried at 
Kaskaskia, and afterwards removed to this 
cemetery. They were the early pioneers of 
the great Mississippi Valley. They planted 
free institutions in a wilderness and were the 
founders of a great commonwealth. In mem- 
ory of their service, Illinois gratefully erects 

this monument. 

1892 



The original site of town and cemetery is now en- 
tirely covered by the Mississippi River, but as we 
view this "City of the Dead" our minds wander back 
more than two centuries to the time when the 
people of Kaskaskia laid the foundation of the "Grand 
Old Commonwealth of Illinois." 

146. John P. Altgeld was inaugurated governor 
January, 1893. The World's Columbian Exposition 
was held at Chicago during the summer of that year. 
On June 2Gth, 1893, Governor Altgeld pardoned the 
three Haymarket rioters (143) who were in the pen- 
itentiary. This made him very unpopular, as they 
were considered anarchists. 

147. Through the efforts of County Superintend- 
ent O. J. Kern, Winnebago County has combined a 
number of its rural schools into Consolidated Graded 
Schools. By this plan several districts unite and the 



ILLINOIS 



81 



children are taken to and from school at public ex- 
pense. It has gone beyond the experimental stage and 
bids fair to revolutionize the rural schools of Illinois. 
On January 30, 1904, Seward Consolidated School, 
the first consolidated school in the state, was dedicated, 

148. In 1894 the American Railway Union went 
out on a strike in the city of Chicago. Chaos reigned 
until President Cleveland ordered Federal troops to 
the scene to preserve order. Governor Altgeld took 
offense at this alleged usurpation of authority, but he 
finally ordered out state troops to take their places. 




Eastern Illinois Normal, Charleston. 



149. The Legislature passed laws in 1895 creat- 
ing two new normal schools. One is located at 



82 



ILLINOIS 



Charleston and is known as "The Eastern Illinois 
Normal," the other is at DeKalb and is called "The 
Northern Illinois Normal School." In completing the 
history of Governor Altgeld's administration, one 
thing, at least, must be said to his credit, i. e., that he 



Hitlt rA t 

- 






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m ^ .. - %*%* i 





Northern Illinois Normal, DeKalb. 



believed in substantial buildings and to such an ex- 
tent did he enforce his opinions on the architects, that 
the buildings erected by the State stand as monuments 
to what is known as Altgeld architecture. 

150. John R. Tanner was inaugurated governor 
January, 1897. This year the Legislature passed a law 



ILLINOIS 



83 



to establish "The Western Illinois Normal School." 
It is located at Macomb. 




Western Illinois Normal, Macomb. 



151. In 1898 the Spanish-American War was 
fought. Governor Tanner promptly offered the service 
of the State Militia and within three days the entire 
eight regiments were ready for the fray. Several other 
regiments were organized and were anxious for a fight 
hut the services of only one more regiment was needed. 

152. Richard Yates, son of the "War Governor," 
was inaugurated governor January 8th, 1901. This 
same year a law was passed providing for Farmers' 
Institutes. This law has already proven a great help 



84 



ILLINOIS 



to the farmers of the State and the wisdom of those 
who favored it can no* longer be questioned. The 
campaign for governor in 1004 was quite exciting. 
Seven avowed candidates were in the field for the 
nominaton on the republican ticket and there were 
several so-called "dark horses." The State Conven- 
tion lasted nearly a month. Finally, Charles S. De- 
neen, of Chicago, was nominated and he was elected 
over Hon. Lawrence Stringer, the democratic nom- 
inee. 




Charles S. Deneen. 



153. Charles S. Deneen was inaugurated gov- 
ernor January 9th, 1905. That year a Primary Elec- 
tion Law was passed, but the next year the Supreme 
Court declared it unconstitutional. Governor Deneen 



ILLINOIS 



85 



then called the Legislature together in special session 
and a new one was passed. 

154. In 1907 the Legislature passed a Local Op- 
tion Law which provides that the people of any cit\v 
township or county may vote on the question of li- 
censing the saloon. As a result of this the liquor 
traffic has been greatly reduced. 




Adlai E. Stevenson. 

155. In 1908, the Legislature repealed the Primary 
Election Law then on the statute books, and passed 
another, but the Supreme Court declared it unconsti- 



86 ILLINOIS 

tutional. This was another campaign year. The re- 
publicans nominated Governor Deneen to make the 
race again, and the democrats offered that deservedly 
popular man, Adlai E. Stevenson, of Bloomington, 
who* had honored the State by serving as the efficient 
vice president of the United States from 1893 to 
1897. This "battle of the ballots" was fought along 
political lines and the former was re-elected. 

156. On August 14th, 1908, a race riot broke out 
in Springfield, almost under the shadow of the mon- 
ument of the immortal Lincoln, and for nearly two 
days, in fact until four regiments of militia were on 
the scene, lawlessness reigned supreme. Seven people 
were killed and more than fifty wounded, while prop- 
erty valued at more than $100,000 was destroyed. 
The next year, Miss Anna Pelley, of Anna, was mur- 
dered by a negro at Cairo. He was arrested and put 
in jail, but it became known that a crowd was being 
organized to resort to "lynch law," and the sheriff 
left with him, via the Illinois Central Railroad, but 
was headed off near Dongola. The negro was taken 
back and hanged in the heart of the city. Miss Pelley 
was buried at her home and the public spirited citizens 
of Anna and Cairo erected a beautiful monument to 
her memory. Mob law is wrong, but back of it all 
is the fact that the politicians catered for the negro 
vote and did not enforce the laws against them. 



CHAPTER V. 

SOMEWHAT GEOGRAPHICAL. 

157. The length of Illinois is 388 miles. It has an 
area of 5G,000 square miles and contains nearly 6,000,- 
000 people. It ranks third among the states of the 
Union in the production of manufactured goods and 
of iron and steel products ; second in the production of 
coal; first in farm products. It contains more miles 
of railroad than any other state. In the manufacture 
of watches, farm implements, railroad cars and pack- 
ed meats it leads the world. 

158. There is now strong probability that the 
Chicago Drainage Canal, the Illinois River and the 
Mississippi River will be converted into a deep water- 
way connecting the Lakes with the Gulf. The mater- 
ialization of this enterprise would make a seaport of 
every town along these rivers. There can be no rea- 
sonable conclusion reached as to the vast possibilities 
opening up before us. 

IN CONCLUSION. 

159. Attempting to give only the important facts we 
have now traced the history of the great state of Illi- 
nois from its discovery by Marquette and Joliet to the 
present, telling of many brave deeds and brilliant 
achievements of the men of Illinois with but few ref- 
erences to the women of Illinois, and, without any de- 



88 ILLIXOIS 

sire to detract from : g] ry due the men. we wish 
here to direct attention to the sainted old mother who 
out of unbounded love, read the Bible., the best of 
ssics, to her sons and daughters, teaching them by 
precept and practice to imitate that "Perfect Model" 
of love and faith and duty. "Be a good boy. is what 
she says to the little fellow each day as he starts to 
school. Be a good boy. is what she says to the youth 
as he leaves for college. Be a good boy is stili her 
sacred charge, when, standing at the gate, she gives 
him her blessing as he goes out into the world." 

160. Xor would we forget the good and faithful 
teacher., who takes the little urchins from a variety of 
homes, teaching them how to be useful citizens, often 
quelling miniature rebellions, giving them stories of 
loyalty and patriotism, instilling in them a reverence 
for our forefathers and a love for our country's flag 
and ail it represents. 

161. When the Civil War broke out, no less did 
the "Woman of Illinois" expect of her son. h;r brither 
or her lover than the Spartan mother did of her son 
whom she told to come back bearing his shield tri- 
umphantly or be brought back dead upon it. The 
soldier "sang of love and not of fame" when he took 
up the sweet refrain of "Just Before the Battle. 
Mother." Well does the author remember that when 
each regiment of Illinois troops went to the front in 

Spanish-American War its band would play. 
"The Girl I Left Behind Me." Such influences 



ILLINOIS 89 

through childhood and youth and manhood would 
make him feel happy to die fighting for his country. 
The immortal Lincoln had these in mind when he 
said : "Let reverence of the law be breathed by every 
mother to the lisping babe that prattles in her lap ; let 
it be taught in schools, seminaries, and colleges ; let it 
be written in primers, spelling-books and almanacs ; 
let it be preached from pulpits, and proclaimed in leg- 
islative halls, and enforced in courts of justice : in 
short, let it become the political religion of the nation/' 

162. 

"Through the long vista of departed years. 
The kindling eye now gazes — dimmed with tears 
And now with magic power behold it brings 
The sweets of memory without its stings." 

• When we view our great state in the light of 
past, present and future events, witnessing its tri- 
umphs of both peace and war, it makes us proud to 
be an Illinoisan and there is added greater wealth of 
pride than ever before to that beloved boast, "I am an 
American citizen." As La Salle looked from his fort 
on Starved Rock, "inaccessible as an eagle's nest." 
over his thousands of Indian Braves that roamed over 
valley and plain, little did he dream that instead of a 
vast French Dominion, a state like ours would exist 
with a name that had always been magic in his ears — 
Illinois. 




Every acre of ground, every house and lot, every bit of 
personal property in the State gets its value largely through 
the development of standards of intelligent appreciation and 
intelligent desires. When the savage roamed over this rich 
land it was worthless, because he had not the intelligence, 
not the education, not the training to understand the land 
and its resources. The .safety of property depends upon the 
honesty of the people. The honesty of the people depends 
upon their respect for law and property. This respect for law 
and property is largely a creature of education. I believe the 
value and safety of property depend upon the universality and 
soundness of our education. 



APPENDIX 



GOVERNORS AND LIEUTENANT GOVERN 
ORS OF ILLINOIS 

D., Democrat; R., Republican; ** Resigned; * Died in office. 



Date Governor 

1818— Shadrach Bond D 

1822— Edward Coles D 

1826— Ninian Edwards D 

1830— John Reynolds* D 

1834— William L. D. Ewing. . D 

1834 — Joseph Duncan D 

1S36— 

1838— Thomas Carlin D 

1842— Thomas Ford D 

1846— Augustus C. French D 

1848 — Augustus C. French D 

1853— Joel A. Mattison D 

1857— William H. Bissell**. . .,R 

1860— John Wood R 

1861— Richard Yates, Sr R 

1865— Richard J. Oglesbv R 

1869— John M. Palmer R 

1873— Richard J. Oglesbv**. . .R 

1873— John L. Bevcridge R 

1S77— Shelbv M. Cullom R 

1881— Shelby M. Cullom**. .. .R 

1833— John M. Hamilton R 

1885— Richard J. Oglesby R 

1889— Joseph W. Fifer R 

1893— John P. Altgeld D 

1897— John R. Tanner R 

1901— Richard Yates, Jr R 

1905— Chas. S. Deneen R 

1909— Chas. S. Deneen R 



Lieutenant Governor 

Pierre Menard D 

Adolphus H ubbard D 

William Kinney D 

William L. D. Ewing. ...D 

See 90 

Alexander Al. Jenkins*. .D 
William H. Davidson. ..D 
Stinson H. Anderson. . . .D 

John Moore D 

Joseph B. Wells D 

William McMurtry D 

Gustave Koerner D 

John Wood R 

See 122 

Frances A. Hoffman D 

William Bross R 

John Dougherty R 

John L. Beveridge R 

See 141 

Andrew Shuman R 

John M. Hami.ton R 

See 142 

John C. Smith R 

Lyman B. Rav R 

Joseph B. Gill D 

William A. Northcott. . .R 
William A. Northcott. . .R 
Lawrence Y. Sherman . . . R 
John G. Oglesby R 



92 



ILLINOIS 



U. S. SENATORS FROM ILLINOIS 
1818— 1909 

"The Senate of the United States shall be composed of 
two Senators from each State, chosen by the legislature 
thereof, for six years." ' No person shall be a Senator who 
shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been 
nine years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, 
when elected, be an inhabitant of that State for which he 
shall be chosen." 

* Died in office; ** Resigned; D., Democrat; R., Republican ; Ind., 
Independent. 

Name Residence In Out 

Ninian Edwards D Kaskaskia 1818 1819 

Jesse B. Thomas D Kaskaskia 1818 1823 

**Ninian Edwards D Edwardsville 1819 1824 

Jesse B. Thomas D Edwardsville 1823 1829 

John McLean D. . . .Shawneetown 1824 1825 

Elias Kent Kane D Kaskaskia 1825 1831 

* John McLean D Shawneetown 1829 1830 

David J. Baker D Kaskaskia 11-12-30 12-11-30 

John M. Robinson D Carmi 1830 1835 

*Elias Kent Kane D . . . . Kaskaskia 1831 1835 

John M. Robinson. ...D. ...Carmi 1835 1841 

W. L. D. Ewing D Vandalia 1835 1837 

Richard M. Young. . .D. ...Jonesboro 1837 1843 

*Samuel McRoberts. ..D. .. .Waterloo 1841 1343 

Sidney Breese D. . . .Carlyle 1843 1849 

James Semple D.... Alton 1843 1847 

Stephen A. Douglas . . .D . . . . Quincy 1847 1853 

James Shields D . . . . Springfield 1849 1855 

Stephen A. Douglas . . .D . . . . Chicago 1853 1859 

Lyman Trumbull D. .. .Belleville 1855 1361 

♦Stephen A. Douglas.. D.... Chicago 1859 1861 

Lyman Trumbull R. . . .Chicago 1861 1867 

O. H. Browning. R. . . .Quincy 1861 1863 

W. A. Richardson D. . . .Quincy 1863 1865 

Richard Yates R . . . . Jacksonville 1865 1871 

Lyman Trumbull R . . . . Chicago 1867 1873 

John A. Logan R... .Chicago 1871 1877 

Richard J. Oglesby .... R ... . Decatur 1873 1879 

David Davis Ind Bloomington 1877 1883 

John A. Logan R... .Chicago 1879 1885 

Shelby M. Cullom .... R ... . Springfield 1883 1889 



ILLINOIS 



93 



Name 

*John A. Logan 

Charles B. Farwell.. 
Shelby M. Cullom. . . 
John M. Palmer. .. . 
Shelby M. Cullom... 
William E. Mason . . 
Shelby M. Cullom... 
Albert J. Hopkins. . . 
Shelby M. Cullom. .. 
W. R. Lorimer 



Residence In Out 

R Chicago 1885 1886 

. R Chicago 1887 1891 

.R Springfield 1889 1895 

. D Springfield 1891 1897 

.R Soringfield 1895 1901 

,R Chicago 1897 1903 

.R Springfield 1901 1907 

R Aurora 1903 1909 

.R Snringfield 1907 

.R Chicago 1909 



INFORMATION ABOUT THE COUNTIES OF 
ILLINOIS 

The star indicates that the county is not under township 
organization. 

Name Organized Sq. mi. Pop. 1910 Origin of Name 

Adams 1825.. 830.. 64588. .. J. O. Adams 

Alexander* .. 1819.. 220.. 22741 .W.M.Alexander 

Bond' 1817. . 380. . 17075. .Shadrach Bond 

Boone 1837.. 288.. 15181. . .Daniel Boone 

Brown 1839 . . 306 . . 10397 .... Jacob Brown 

Bureau 1837.. 840.. 43975 P. de Buero 

Calhoun* .. ..1825.. 251.. 8610. . J. C. Calhoun 

Carroll 1839 . . 450 . . 18035 .... Chas. Carroll 

Cass* 1837.. 460.. 17372 Lewis Cass 

Champaign . .. 1833. .1008. . 51829. .A Co. in Ohio 

Christian .. ..1839.. 702.. 34549. . ..A Co. in Kv. 

Clark 1819.. 513.. 23517... Geo. R. Clark 

Clay 1824.. 466.. 18661 Henry Clay 

Clinton 1824.. 487.. 22832. DeWitt Clinton 

Coles 1830.. 520.. 34517. ..Edward Coles 

Cook 1831.. 890. .2405233.... Dan P. Cook 

Crawford .. ..1816.. 470.. 26281.. W.H Crawford 

Cumberland .. 1843.. 350.. 14281 .. Cumberl'd R'd 

DeKalb 1837.. 650.. 33457. .Baron DeKalb 



94 




ILLINOIS 




Name 


Organized 


Sq. mi. 


Pop. 1910 


Origin of Name 


DeWitt . . . 


...1839. 


. 440. . 


18906, 


DeWitt Clinton 


Douglas . . 


. . .1857. 


. 410.. 


19591. 


.S. A. Douglas 


DuPage . . 


. . .1839. 


. 340. . 


33432. 


.DuPage River 


Edgar . . . 


...1823. 


. 640. . 


27336. 


. . . John Edgar 


Edwards* . . 


..1814. 


. 220.. 


10490 Ninian Edwards 


Effingham . 


. . 1831. 


. 486.. 


20255. 


.Ed. Effingham 


Fayette . . . 


.. .1821. 


. 720.. 


28001. 


.... La Fayette 


Ford 


. . .1859. 


. 580.. 


17096. 


. . . Thos, Ford 


Franklin . . 


...1818. 


. 430. . 


25943. 


.Benj. Franklin 


Fulton . . . 


. ..1823. 


. 864. . 


49549. 


. . Robt. Fulton 


Gallatin . . 


...1812. 


. 3±u. . 


14628. 


.Albert Gallatin 


Greene .... 


..1821. 


. 540.. 


23363. 


. . Nath. Greene 


Grundy . . . 


. ..1841. 


. 440. . 


24162. 


. Felix Grundy 


Hamilton . . 


..1821. 


. 440. . 


18227. 


. . A. Hamilton 


Hancock . . 


...1825. 


. 780. . 


30638. 


. John Hancock 


Hardin* . .. 


..1839. 


. 180.. 


7015. 


. .A Co. in Ky. 


Henderson* 


. . 1841. 


. 380. . 


10727 


Henderson R'vr 


Henry .... 


..1825. 


. 825. . 


41736. 


.Patrick Henry 


Iroquois . . 


...1833. 


.1100. . 


15543. 


. . Indian name 


Jackson . . 


...1816. 


. 580. . 


33143 Andrew Jackson 


Jasper . . . 


...1831. 


. 484. . 


18157. 


.Sgt. W. Jasper 


Jefferson . . 


..1819. 


. 466. . 


29111. 


. . . T. Jefferson 


Jersey .... 


...1839. 


. 360. . 


13954. 


. . . New Jersey 


Jo Daviess 


...1817. 


. 650.. 


22654. 


.... Jo Daviess 


Johnson* . . 


..1812. 


. 340. . 


14331. 


.R. M. Johnson 


Kane 


.. .1836. 


. 540. . 


91862. 


.Elias K. Kane 


Kankakee * . 


..1851. 


. 680. . 


40752. 


. . Indian name 


Kendall . .. 


...1841. 


. 321.. 


10777. 


. Amos Kendall 


Knox .... 


. ..1825. 


. 720. . 


46159. 


. . Henry Knox 


Lake 


.. .1839. 


. 394.. 


55058. 


.Lake Michigan 


LaSalle . . . 


...1831. 


.1152. 


90132. 


..LaSalle, Exp 


Lawrence . . 


..1821. 


. 362. 


22661. 


.Jas. Lawrence 


Lee 


...1839. 


. 728. 


27250. 


R. H. Lee 


Livingston . 


.. 1837. 


.1026. 


40465. 


.Ed. Livingston 


Logan .... 


.. .1839. 


. 620. 


30216. 


Dr. Jno. Logan 







ILLINOIS 


95 


Name 


Organized 


Sq. mi. 


Pop. 1910 


Origin of Name 


Macon . . 


..1829. 


. 580.. 


54186. 


. Xath. Macon 


Macoupin . . 


..1829. 


. 864. . 


50685. 


. Indian name 


Madison .. . 


..1812. 


. 740. . 


89847. 


. Jas. Madison 


Marion . . . 


..1824. 


. 576.. 


35037 ] 


7 rancis Marion 


Marshall . . 


..1839. 


. 350.. 


15679. 


John Marshall 


Mason . . . . 


..1841. 


. 518.. 


17377. 


.A Co. in Ky. 


Massac* . . 


..1843. 


. 240.. 


14200. 


. Fort Massac 


McDonough 


..1826. 


. 576. . 


26887, 


T. McDonough 


McHenry . . 


...1836. 


. 612.. 


32509, 


Wm. McHenry 


McLean . . . 


..1830. 


.1161. . 


68008. 


John McLean 


Menard* . . 


. ..1839. 


. 311.. 


12796. 


Pierre Menard 


Mercer . . 


..1825. 


. 550. . 


19723. 


.Hugh Mercer 


Monroe* . . 


..1816. 


. 380. . 


13508. 


. Jas. Monroe 


Montgomery 


..1821. 


. 740. . 


35311 R. Montgomery 


Morgan* . . 


. .1823. 


. 563. . 


34420, 


Daniel Morgan 


Moultrie . . 


...1843. 


. 340. . 


14630. 


Wm. Moultrie 


Ogle 


..1836. 


. 773.. 


27864. 


. Joseph Ogle 


Peoria 


..1825. 


. 630. . 


100255. 


. Indian name 


Perry* . . 


..1827. 


. 432. . 


22088. 


..O. H. Perry 


Piatt 


..1841. 


. 440. . 


16376. 


. . . Benj. Piatt 


Pike 


..1821. 


. 756. . 


28622. 


...Z. M. Pike 


Pooe* 


...1816. 


. 360.. 


11215. 


Xathaniel Pope 


Pulaski* . . 


...1843. 


. 190. . 


15650, 


Casimir Pulaski 


Putnam . . . 


..1825. 


. 170.. 


7561. 


. Israel Putnam 


Randolph* . 


.. 1795. 


. 560. . 


29120 ] 


im'd Randolph 


Richland . . 


..1841. 


. 380.. 


15970. 


.A Co. in Ohio 


Rock Island 


...1831. 


. 420.. 


70404 1 


sl'd same name 


Saline 


..1847. 


. 396.. 


30204. 


. . Saline creek 


Sangamon . . 


..1821. 


. 875. . 


91029. 


. Indian name 


Schuyler . . 


..1825. 


. 414. . 


14852. 


Philip Schuyler 


Scott* 


..1839. 


. 252. . 


10067. 


. . . A Co. in Ky. 


Shelby .... 


...1827. 


. 760.. 


31693. 


. Isaac Shelby 


Stark 


..1839. 


. 290. . 


10098.. 


. . . John Stark 


St. Clair . . . 


..1790. 


. 680.. 


119870. 


.. .A. St. Clair 


Stephenson . 


..1837. 


. 573. . 


36821 ] 


3enj. Steph'son 



96 



ILLINOIS 



Name 

Tazewell . . 
Union* . . . 
Vermillion . 
Wabash* . . 
Warren .... 
Washington 
Wavne .... 
White ... . 
Whiteside . 
Will .... . 
Williamson* 
Winnebago 
Woodford . 



Organized 

. .1827.. 
..1818. . 
...1826.. 
. .1824.. 
..1825. 
. .1818. . 
..1819. . 
..1815.. 
. .1836.. 
..1836.. 
. .1839.. 
..1836.. 
..1841. . 



Sq. mi 

650 

400 

882 

2550. 

540 

557. 

720 

500 

676 

850 

440 

540. 

556. 



Pop. 1910 Origin of Name 

34027. L. W. Tazewell 

21856 The Union 

77996. . Vermillion R. 
14913. . . Indian name 

23133 Jos. Warren 

18753.. G. Washington 
25697. .Anth'y Wayne 
23052.. Leonard White 
34507. . . S. Whiteside 
84371... .Conrad Will 
45098.. A Co. in Tenn. 
63153. . . Indian name 
20506. ..A Co. in Kv. 



Population of Illinois, 5,638,591. 



STATE OFFICERS 

GOVERNOR 

Charles S. Deneen, Chicago, re-elected 1908. 

LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR 

John G. Oglesby. Elkhart, elected 1908. 

SECRETARY OF STATE 

James A. Rose, Golconda, re-elected 19C8. 

AUDITOR OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS 

James S. McCullough, Urbana, re-elected 1908. 

TREASURER 

Ed. E. Mitchell, Carbondale, elected 1908. 

SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 

Francis G. Blair, Charleston, re-elected 1910. 

ATTORNEY GENERAL 

William H. Stead, Ottawa, re-elected 1908. 

CLERK OF SUPREME COURT 

J. McCan Davis, Springfield, elected 1908. 



ILLINOIS 97 



JUDGES OF SUPREME COURT 

First District — Alonzo K. Vickers. 
Second District — William M. Farmer. 
Third District — Frank K Dunn. 
Fourth District — George A. Cooke. 
Fifth District— John P. Hand. 
Sixth District — James H. Cartright. 
Seventh District — Orin N. Carter. 
James H. Cartright is Chief Justice. 

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. 

University of Illinois, Urbana — Dr. E. J. James, President. 
State Normal University, Normal — Dr. David Felmley, Pres. 
Southern Illinois Normal University, Carbondale — Dr. D. B. 

Parkinson. President. 
Eastern Illinois State Normal School,, Charleston — Dr. L. C. 

Lord, President. 
Northern Illinois State Normal School, DeKalb — Dr. John 

W. Cook, President. 
Western Illinois State Normal School, Macomb — Dr. Alfred 

Bavliss, President. 



INDEX 



Aborigines, 1. 

A. F. & A. M., 48. 

Albion, 72. 
Algonquins, 2, 5. 
Alleghenies, 36. 
Altgeld, John P., 142, 14G, 

143. 
Alton, 51, SO, 84, 120, 124. 
Amendment, Thirteenth, 133. 
American Bottom, 8, 38. 
American Ry. Union, 148. 
Americans, 51. 
Anarchists, 143. 

Badgley, Rev. D., 44. 
Bank of Kaskaskia, 57. 
Bank of Edwardsville, 57. 
Bank of Illinois, 102. 
Bank of Shawneetown, 57. 
Banks, Private, 114. 
Bank, State, 72, 83, 85, 91, 

102. 
Banks, "Wildcat," 57, 72. 
Baptist Church, 44. 
Beveridge, John L, 141. 
Black Hawk War, 11, 86, 89. 
Birney, James G., 101. 
Birkbeck Morris, 74. 
Bissell, Wm. H., 119, 122. 
Black Laws, 70, 133. 
Block Houses, 51. 
Boisbraint, Pierre Duque, 15. 
Bond. Shadrach 70. 
Boundary of Illinois, 66. 
Breese. Sidney, 71. 
British, 20, 21~ 51, 54. 
British Sympathizers, 23. 



(Numbers refer to paragraphs.) 

Brownsville, 72. 
Burnett, Timothy, 73. 
Burr, Aaron. 47. 



Cahokia, 3, 8. 
Cairo, 113, 127. 
Campbell's Island. 54. 
Campbell, Lt., 54. 
Camp Russell, 51. 
Canals. 91, 110, 144, 158. 
Capital, 67, 70, 71, 100. 
Capitol, 48, 67, 71, 75, 93, 

100, 135. 
Carlin, Thomas, 98. 
Carbondale, 137. 
Carthage, 91. 
Cartright, Rev. Peter, 82. 
Carnival of Crime, 110. 
Charleston, 120, 149. 
Chartres, Fort, 15, 17, 20. 
Chester, 124. 
Chicago, 46, 51, 96. 
Chicago Fire, 140. 
Church, Baptist, 44. 
Church, M. E... 42. 
Church, Cum. Pres., 58. 
Church, Cov. Pres., 59. 
Civil War, 126, 133. 
Clark, George Rogers, 23, 38. 
Coles, Edwarld, 74. 
Congress, 40, 45, 66, 83, 110, 

113. 
Connecticut 21, 39. 
Consolidated Schools, 147. 
Constitution, 67, 74, 109, 111, 

138. 



ILLINOIS 



99 



Corn Island, 24. 
Counties, see appendix. 
Court, Federal, 89. 
Court, U. S. Supreme. 105. 
Court, First in Illinois, 19. 
Counterfeiting, 104, 112. 
Craig, Capt, 53. 
Cullom, Shelby M., 142. 

Dearborn Massacre, 51. 

Debt, State, see State Debt. 

Debt, War, 39. 

DeKalb, 146. 

Deep Waterway, 158. 

Democrats, 104. 

Deneen, Charles S. } 150. 

Dixon, 77. 

Douglas, Stephen A., 120, 128. 

Dueling, 73. 

Duncan, Joseph, 7G, S3, 94. 

Duncan. Matthew, 56. 

Dunkards, 78. 

East St. .Louis, 8. 
Eddy, Henry, 74. 
Edwards Co., 76. 
Edwards, Ninian W., 115. 
Edwards, Ninian, 79. 
Edwardsville, 79. 
Eel Rivers, 4. 
Enabling Act, 66. 
England, 33, 36, 51, 134. 
Epidemic, 99. 
Ewing, L. D., 90. 
Exposition, 146. 

Farmers' Institutes, 152. 
Federal Court, 89. 
Fifer, Joseph W., 144. 
Flag, 27. 69. 
Flatheads. 112. 
Ford, Thomas, 102. 
Fort Chartres, 15, 20. 
Fort Clark. 53. 
Fort Creve Cour, 7, 13. 



Fort Dearborn, 46, 51, 52, 88. 

Fort Gage, 20. 

Fort Massac, 47. 

Fort Pitt, 24. 

FortSj 51. 

Fort Snelling, 81. 

Fort St. Louis, 7, 9, 13. 

Fort Sumpter, 127. 

Foxes, 5, 6, 9, 53. 

France, 17, 36. 

Fraud, 121. 

French, A. C, 109, 111. 

Galena, 71, 9S. 
Galesburg, 120. 
Garrison Hill, 145. 
George III, IS. 
Gibault, Father. 2S. 
Grant, U. S., 130 133. 
Great Northern Cross R. R. 
97, 102. 

Hamilton, John M., 142. 
Hamilton, Sir Henry, 30, 33. 
Harrison, William H., 08. 
Haymarket Riot, 143. 
Heald, Capt, 52. 
Helm, Capt., 29. 
Hennepin, Father Louis 13. 
Henry, Patrick, 23. 
Homestead Exemption, 114. 

Illini, 3, 6, 7, 9, 13, 41. 
Illinois, 12, 13, 15, 35. 41, 

51, 66. 

Illinois and Mich, see canal. 
Illinois Cen. R. R., 114, US. 
Illinois Herald, 56. 
Illinois Territory, 49, 50. 
Indiana, 41, 49. 
Indiana Territory, 45. 
Indians, 1, 14, 23, 27, 30, 51, 

52, 54. 

Internal Improvement, 94, 
109. 



100 



ILLINOIS 



I. O. O. F, 92. 
Iroquois, 2, 6, 9, 13. 

Jackson, Andrew, 55, 91. 
Joliet, 119. 
Joliet, Louis, 12. 
Jonesboro, 120. 
Juries, IP. 

Kaskaskia, 8, 14, 15, 16, 20, 
23, 2G, 27, 35, 38, 41, 56, 
GT, 77, 145. 

Kaskaskia Cemetery. 145. 

Kaskaskia River, 14, 27, 51. 

Kaskaskias, 14. 

Keel Boats, 31. 

Kentucky, 23, 52. 

Kentuckians, 24, 53. 

Keokuk, 86. 

Kickapoos, 5, 6, 9. 

Kidnappers, 112, 123. 

Knights of Golden Circle, 
128 

Lafavette, Gen., 77. 

Lands, Indian, 86. 

Lands, Railroad, 113, 115. 

Lands, School, 83. 

Latter Day Saints, 91. 

LaSalle, 113, 124. 

LaSalle, Robert, 3, 7, 13, 162. 

Lebanon, 82. 

Legislature, 59, 70, 72, 74, 

94, 112. 132, 145, 153. 
Lillard, Rev. Joseph, 42. 
Lincoln, Abraham, 120, 126, 

128, 130, 133. 
Linn, Capt, 25. 
Liquor, 114, 151. 
Logan, John A., 129, 133. 
Louis XIV, 15. 
Love joy, Rev. Elijah P., 95. 

Macomb, 147. 
Marquette, Father, 12. 



Masonic Lodge, 4S. 

Matteson, Joel A., 115, 121. 

McGready, Rev. James, 5S. 

McKendree College, S2. 

McLean, John, 67. 

M. E. Church, 42. 

Meredosia, 97. 

Metropolis, 41, 124. 

Mexican War, 106. 

Miamis, 4. 

Michigamies, 3. 

Minority Representation, 13S. 

Mormons, 104. 

Monev, 57. 

Monroe, James, 67. 

Mounds, 1. 

Murphysboro. 72. 

Muscogees, 2. 

Muster Days, 55. 

Nauvoo, 104. 

Neeroes, 16, 40, 68, 70, 74, 

101, 105, 115, 123, 125, 133. 
New Design, 37, 42, 44. 
Newspapers, 56. 
New York, 39. 
Normal, 119. 
Normal, Eastern, 149. 
Normal, Northern, 149. 
Normal, Southern, 139. 
Normal, State, 119. 
Normal, Western, 150. 
Northern Cross Road, 97, 

102. 
Northwest Territory, 45. 

Odd Fellows, 92. 
Ogden, W. B., 96. 
Olesby, Richard J., 133, 

141, 143. 
Ohio, 41, 45. 

Ordinance of 1787, 40, 74. 
Ottawa, 120. 

Palmer, John M., 138. 



ILLINOIS 



101 



Peck, Rev. John M., 74, 80. 
Pelley, Anna, 156. 
Penitentiary, 84, 119. 
Peoria, 53. 
Peorias, 3, 8, 9. 
Pet Banks, 91. 
Piankeshaws, 4. 
Pioneers, 60-65. 
Polk, James K., 106. 
Pope, Nathaniel, 66. 
Pottawatomies, 5, 9, 96. 
Primary Elections, 152, 155. 

Quincy, 97, 120, 124. 
Quebec Act, 21. 

Railroad Lands, 113, 115. 
Railroads, 89, 97, 102, 113, 

114. 118. 
Randolph County, 43. 
Rangers, 53. 
Rebellion, 126, 133. 
Regu 1 ator.s, 112. 
Reugious Freedom, 40. 
Renault, Philip F., 16. 
Republicans, 117, 126. 
Reynolds, John, 46, 84, 86, 

90, 110. 
Rock Island, 86. 
Rock Springs, so. 
Russell, William, 53. 

Sacs, 5, 6, 9, 53, 76, 86. 
Salt Works, 84. 
School Lands, 83. 
Schools, 37, 76, 83, 91, 103, 

115, 116, 119. 
Scott, Winfield, 88. 
Seeley, S. J., 37. 
Sharon, 58. 
Shawnees, 5. 

Shawneetown. 57, 72, 77, 79. 
Shields, James, 106, 107. 
Shiloh, 42. 

Shurtleff College, 80. 
Sioux, 5. 



Slavery. 16, 40, 68, 70, 74, 
101, 105, 123, 124, 125, 133. 
Smith, G. W., 25. 
Smith, Joseph, 104. 
Songs, 131. 
Spain, 36. 

Spanish-American War, 151. 
Springfield, 97, 99. 
Starved Rock, 9, 160. 
State Bank, 83, 85, 91. 102. 
State Debt, 94, 102, 142. 
State Normal, 119. 
State University, 136. 
St. Clair, Arthur, 41. 
St. Clair County, 41, 43. 
Stephenson, B. F., 135. 
Stevenson, A. E., 155. 
Stewart. A. C, 73. 
Sterling, Capt, 17. 
Stillman, 87. 
St. Louis, 17, 127. 
Supt. of Schools, 103, 115. 
Supreme Court of U. S., 105. 
Surplus Revenue, 91. 

Tamaroa, 8. 
Tamaroas, 3, 6, 8, 14. 
Tanner, John R., 149. 
Tavlor, Zacharv, 54. 
Teachers. 64, 116, 161. 
Theological Sem. and H. S., 

80. 
Thirteenth Amendment 133. 
Thomas, Jesse B., 59. 
Todd, John, 35. 
Tonti, Henr-. 13. 
Township Organization, 114. 
Treaty of Paris, 17. 

Underground Railway, 123, 

125. 
L T nion Jack. 17, 27. 
Universalists. 7S. 
University, 136. 
Urbana, 136. 
Utica, 8. 



102 



ILLINOIS 



Vandalia, 70, 71, 77, 93. 
Venison, 60, 71. 
Vincennes, 29, 31, 52. 
Virginia, 21, 23, 35, 39. 

Wabash River, 29, 31, 43, 51. 
War Debts, 39. 
War of 1812, 11. 
War Governor, 127. 
Weas, 4. 
Whigs. 104. 
Wigwam. The, 126. 
Wildcat Banks, 57, 72. 



Winnebagoes, 5, 6, 81, 87, 8S 
Wisconsin, 12, 87, 108. 
Witchcraft, 35. 
Wolfe, Rev. George, 78. 
Wolfe, Gen. James, 17. 
Women, 132, 160, 161, 162. 
Wood. John, 122. 
World's Columbian Exposi- 
tion, 146. 
Wylie, Rev. Samuel, 59. 

Yates, Richard, Sr., 127. 
Yates, Richard, Jr., 152. 



HISTORY OF 



COUNTY, ILLINOIS 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 
IAN 21 1 



